Yoga Sutra Chapter 3 YSI English Manual by Yoga Studies Institute

YOGA STUDIES INSTITUTE

YOGA SUTRA

The Chapter on Practice • Y O G A T H AT C H A N G E S Y O U R W O R L D , N O T J U S T Y O U R B O D Y •

The material contained in this manual, and any other handouts or resources used in the Yoga Sutra Courses are the property of the Yoga Studies Institute (YSI). Inquiries should be directed as follows: 6490 State Route 179 Sedona , Arizona USA 86351 yogastudiesinstitute.org info@yogastudiesinsitute.org Cover and interior design Nigiro Design Studios • www.nigiro.com

Welcome to the Yoga Sutra Chapter 3 Course Learn what yogis have practiced for millennia to become happier, healthier, and more peaceful. Vibhuti pada, or the Chapter on Practice, is the third chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and the very heart of yogic wisdom. This chapter presents the final three of the eight limbs of yogic practice as the three deep states of meditative concentration. When these three practices are combined into one “team”, sanyama in Sanskrit, they unlock the promise of Yoga’s insight and power. Of essential importance in this chapter is Master Patanjali’s coded references to the major elements of the subtle body - the winds, channels and drops. Given this map to the inner world, we arrive at realizations that are both rare and supreme. We are the beneficiaries of those who have come before us. This course is taught by Geshe Michael Roach. Michael Roach is the first American to complete the “Geshe” degree after 25 years of intense study with Asian philosophical and yogic masters. At the same time, he helped found Andin International Diamond Corporation in New York City, where he used yogic principles to help it grow from a small investment to $250 million USD in annual sales. Andin was ultimately purchased in 2009 by super-investor Warren Buffet. Geshe Michael’s profits from the sale were used almost entirely to create and support several charitable organizations, one of which was an input project that has now digitized over 2 million pages of Asia’s classic philosophical texts. Geshe Michael Roach has tirelessly studied and translated the great ideas of yogic philosophy for over 50 years. A master of both Sanskrit and Tibetan, he uses the 100,000+ books in the ALL textual database to ensure the accuracy of his translations. This truly unique translation project of the Yoga Sutra was completed from within the depth and clarity of his 3 year 3 month 3 day silent meditation retreat. It is with great humility and honor that the Yoga Studies Institute can facilitate this transmission directly from Geshe Michael Roach. May the goodness of this study help all beings achieve their deepest happiness and fulfillment.

YOGA SUTRA CHAPTER 3

Syllabus THE YOGA STUDIES INSTITUTE THIRD CORNERSTONE OF THE YOGA SUTRA—THE CHAPTER PRACTICE

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY....................................................... 07 Reading: Chapter III, verses 1-2 Topic: Focus and Fixation

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT..................................................... 19 Reading: Chapter III, verses 3-8 Topic: The Clear Light, The Team, and the Inner and Outer Limbs

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS? ................................ 39 Reading: Chapter III, verses 9-15 Topic: The Transformations: Stopping, Meditation, and Single-Pointedness

PART FOUR: THE POWER TO SAVE THE WORLD ................. 61 Reading: Chapter III, verses 16-22 Topic: The Powers: Past and Future, All Languages, Past Lives, Mind Reading, Invisibility and Omens

PART FIVE: THE TRUE SOURCE OF POWER ........................... 87 Reading: Chapter III, verses 23-26 Topic: The Source of Powers Lies in Love and the Rest, Understand the Sun to Know the Earth

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

PART SIX: THE CHANNEL OF THE MOON .................................. 103 Reading: Chapter III, verses 27-31 Topic: Understand the Moon to Know the Stars, Chakras and Channels

PART SEVEN: EVERYTHING FROM UNDERSTANDING ......... 123 Reading: Chapter III, verses 32-37 Topic: The Siddhis, Understanding the Heart to Know the Mind

PART EIGHT: THE RAINBOW IN A PRISON ................................... 145 Reading: Chapter III, verses 38-42 Topic: Understanding the Winds on Flying Through the Sky

PART NINE: THE FOUR BODIES ........................................................ 165 Reading: Chapter III, verses 43-50 Topic: The Four Bodies, Understanding the Elements, and the Diamond Body of Freedom

PART TEN: RESPECTING OUR DESTINY ....................................... 191 Reading: Chapter III, verses 51-55 Topic: Free of Discrimination and the Achievement of Total Purity

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How the manual is organized and how to use it Each class is made up of three components: (1) reading, (2) commentary, (3) practice.

1. Reading Each class starts with a reading. This section first presents Geshe Michael Roach’s translation of the original Sanskrit into English. Immediately underneath this is the transliteration or the classic devanagari script into Roman letters that an English speaker will more easily pronounce. Next are specific Sanskrit keywords and their Tibetan equivalents. Students are encouraged to memorize these terms and their definitions. Finally, below this is a notes section. This is repeated for each verse in the class. It is traditional and recommended that students do not read the commentary before receiving the verbal transmission.

2. Commentary The first part of the commentary is a title which represents the idea of the following verse, or grouped verses that were covered in the Reading section. Then the translation is presented, and is followed by the Sanskrit transliteration. Finally, the commentary is provided. This is repeated until all verses have been covered.

3. Practice Lastly, the student is provided with homework questions and a quiz. These are intended to be useful for your self-examination and review of core concepts—especially in preparation for the Final Exam.

PART ONE

Focus and Stay

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YOGA SUTRA CHAPTER 3

Reading One vibhūti pādaḥ

The Chapter on Practice Vibhuti Padah

Keywords: 1) vibhuti jorwa 2) pada kangpa

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

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III.1 Deśabandhaścittasya dhāraṇā Locking the mind on an object is focus. desha bandhash chittasya dharana

Keywords: 1) dharana yongsung 2) desha yul 3) chitta sem

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

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III.2 Tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam And staying on that object over a stretch of time is fixation. tatra pratyayaika tanata dhyanam

Keywords: 1) dhyana samten

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

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Commentary One Third Cornerstone: The Chapter on Practice III.1-2 Locking the mind on an object is focus. And staying on that object over a stretch of time is fixation. Tirtiyo Vibhuti Padah Desha bandhash chittasya dharana. Tatra pratyayaika tanata dhyanam.

The third cornerstone for the house of yoga consists of the three inner limbs or practices, along with their practical applications. At the end of the last chapter we were learning to control our senses, which brings us automatically to focus. It’s like finding your friend in a crowd at the train station. On one level, the mind focuses on a single object through the process of eliminating all other objects around it: everything is the opposite of all that it’s not. You check and eliminate faces in the crowd, and steadily narrow your focus down to your friend’s face. The more faces there are to weed out, the more difficult it is to find your friend. The more objects you possess in your house; the more unimportant things you have to do all day; the more useless news you’ve heard and the more you meet with others for unmeaningful talk, then the less chance you’ll be able to focus. Once we reach a single point, we need to stay there, threading that path between thinking of other things and dozing off mentally. Thinking of death fixes the first; thinking of destiny fixes the second.

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

Practice One Homework, Part One 1) Give the name of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra (in English and in Sanskrit); then explain its position within the other three chapters.

2) Name some of the important ideas that we will cover in the third chapter.

3) The opening lines of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra are a continuation of the famed ashtanga eight parts or limbs of the yogic path. By way of review, name and describe very briefly the first five limbs of this path, which we covered in Chapter Two. Include the Sanskrit for each of the five. 1.

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4) Say a little bit about the logic behind the order of the five parts of the yogic path: how does each one set you up for the next?

6) Now name the seventh of the eight limbs; give its Sanskrit name; related English words; and describe the limb briefly.

7) Which of the limbs that come before these two is traditionally considered particularly important in developing them?

8) Explain the vital role that the last sixth and seventh of the eight limbs play in the direct perception of emptiness, or ultimate reality. Explain why it’s important to see emptiness directly.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, analytical meditation on the logic behind the order or progression of the seven limbs of yoga we have learned so far: how it is that each one leads into the next. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

PART ONE: FOCUS AND STAY

Quiz, Part One 1) Say a little bit about the logic behind the order of the five parts of the yogic path: how does each one set you up for the next?

2) Now name the seventh of the eight limbs; give its Sanskrit name; related English words; and describe the limb briefly.

3) Explain the vital role that the last sixth and seventh of the eight limbs play in the direct perception of emptiness, or ultimate reality. Explain why it’s important to see emptiness directly.

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PART TWO

The Clear Light

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Reading Two III.3 Tadevārthamātranirbhāsaṁ svarūpaśūnyamiva samādhiḥ Perfect meditation then sees this same object as its simple self: its clear light, totally void of any nature of its own. tad eva-artha matra nirbhasam svarupa shunyam iva samadhih

Keywords: 1) nirbhasa u-sel 2) svarupa rangshin 3) shunyata tongpa nyi 4) samadhi ting-ngen dzin

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

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III.4 Trayamekatra saṁyamaḥ When these three act together as one, we call it “the combined effort.” trayam ekatra sanyamah

Keywords: 1) sanyama dom-tsun

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

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III.5 Tajjayātprajñālokaḥ When you master this skill, you gain the eye of wisdom. taj jayat prajnya-alokah

Keywords: 1) prajnya sherab 2) aloka chen

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

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III.6 Tasya bhūmiṣu viniyogaḥ This is divided into various levels. tasya bhumishu viniyogah

Keywords: 1) bhumi sa

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III.7 Trayamantaraṅgaṁ pūrvebhyaḥ Relative to those which precede them, these three are “inner” limbs. trayam antar angam purvebhyah

Keywords: 1) anga yenlak

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

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III.8 Tadapi vahiraṅgaṁ nirbījasya But they are also “outer” limbs compared to the state where the seeds are gone. tad api bahir angam nirbijasya

Keywords: 1) nirbija

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Commentary Two The Eye of Wisdom III.3 Perfect meditation then sees this same object as its simple self: its clear light, totally void of any nature of its own. Tad eva-artha matra nirbhasam svarupa shunyam iva samadhih.

At some point, through a modest but very regular daily practice of meditation (performed according to the authentic instructions of that qualified teacher), we attain total stillness of the mind: focus which is fixed. They say that stopping The Great Mistake is like chopping down a big tree. Perfect focus and the ability to stay are like two strong arms. But however strong we may be, we can’t simply push a tree down. We need a very sharp axe. To make meditation perfect, it’s not enough to simply mentally stare at something like our breath for a long time. The mind even then is making its constant, deadly error, and we must fix it or come to the end of our life unfulfilled. As we meditate we need to strive to see the one thing which is simply… missing, clear, gone. We need to realize that nothing is anything; that is, even the hotness of a fire never belonged to it. It is I who make fire hot.

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

The Eye of Wisdom III.4-8 When these three act together as one, we call it “the combined effort.” When you master this skill, you gain the eye of wisdom. This is divided into various levels. Relative to those which precede them, these three are “inner” limbs. But they are also “outer” limbs compared to the state where the seeds are gone. Trayam ekatra sanyamah. Taj jayat prajnya-alokah. Tasya bhumishu viniyogah. Trayam antar angam purvebhyah. Tad api bahir angam nirbijasya.

An axe lifted high with two strong arms has a certain undeniable power to it. You have the ability to put your mind on a single point, and to keep it there unwavering for an hour or more. At the same time, you totally understand where the thing you’re focused on is really coming from—and not coming from. These three together—focus, fixation, and wisdom—represent a kind of teamwork or combined effort which will literally save your life, and the lives of many others. Now you possess a truly powerful weapon, the one and only weapon which can destroy the pain of our world. This is the eye of wisdom—a metaphorical third eye—the light of knowledge within our deepest mind. The three begin as an intellectual experience, and then a direct one, of ultimate reality. They combine with ultimate love and lead us through progressively higher levels of giving, ethical living, patience, effort, concentration, and understanding. Compared to all that we have ever been—compared even to the first five practices of yoga—the combination of these three limbs is literally the most precious thing in the world. But even they are as the mind of a child, compared to where they will take us.

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Practice Two Homework, Part Two 1) Name the eight and final limb of the yogic path; give the Sanskrit word for it; some related English words; and then describe it briefly.

2) In the third verse of this third chapter, Master Patañjali describes the object of perfect meditation, which is “the clear light.” First give the Tibetan and Sanskrit words for “clear light.” Then explain the Sanskrit word and give some related English words.

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

3) Master Patañjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own. But is that true? Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning?

4) In this section, Master Patañjali refers to the idea of voidness, or emptiness. Describe the voidness of a maple-covered donut, and how this relates to the purpose of all yoga: to become whole, or happy. Along the way, explain the Sanskrit word for voidness and give some related English words.

5) Explain the three, and the two, different parts that make up what Master Patañjali calls “the eye of wisdom.”

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6) What phrase will Master Patañjali continue to use throughout the third chapter, to refer to the conjoined power of the last three of the eight limbs of yoga? (Include the Sanskrit, explaining the name and giving related English words.)

7) In what sense are the last three of the eight limbs of yoga “inner,” and in what sense are they “outer”?

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, trying clearly to “see” the donut that does not exist in the case at a pastry shop. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

PART TWO: THE CLEAR LIGHT

Quiz, Part Two 1) Name the eight and final limb of the yogic path; give the Sanskrit word for it; some related English words; and then describe it briefly.

2) Master Patañjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own. But is that true? Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning?

3) In this section, Master Patañjali refers to the idea of voidness, or emptiness. Describe the voidness of a maple-covered donut, and how this relates to the purpose of all yoga: to become whole, or happy. Along the way, explain the Sanskrit word for voidness and give some related English words.

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PART THREE

The End ofThoughts?

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Reading Three III.9 Vyutthānanirodhasaṁskārayorabhibhavaprādurbhāvau nirodhakṣaṇacittānvayo nirodhapariṇāmaḥ The stopping occurs according to whether the seeds for rising from it or remaining within it are suppressed or manifest. Its duration thus follows upon the mind. This we call “the transformation of the stopping.” vyutthana nirodha sanskarayor abhibhava pradurbhavau nirodha kshana chitta-anvayo nirodha parinamah

Keywords: 1) nirodha gokpa 2) sanskara duje 3) parinama gyurwa

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.10 Tasya praśāntavāhitā saṁskārāt The termination, or elimination, of negativities due to this also depends upon the seeds. tasya prashanta vahita sanskarat

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.1 1 Sarvārthataikāgratayoḥ kṣayodayau cittasya samādhipariṇāmaḥ What we call “the transformation of meditation” is a single-pointedness towards all existing objects, where the mind is also stopped, or resumes; again according to these two. sarva-arthataika-agra tayoh kshayodayau chittasya samadhi parinamah

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.12 Tataḥ punaḥ śāntoditau tulyapratyayau cittasyaikāgratāpariṇāmaḥ And what we call “the transformation of single-pointedness” is where that state of mind itself either rests or arises, according again to the same two factors. tatah punah shantoditau tulya pratyayau chittasyaika-agrata parinamah

Keywords: 1) pratyaya kyen 2) ekagra tsechik

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.13 Etena bhūtendriyeṣu dharmalakṣaṇāvasthāpariṇāmā vyākhyātāḥ These are called “transformations” because that creates a change in the very condition of the qualities of things, whether external elements or internal powers. etena bhutendriyeshu dharma lakshana-avastha parinama vyakhyatah

Keywords: 1) bhuta jungwa 2) indriya wangpo 3) dharma chu 4) lakshana tsennyi

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.14 Śāntoditāvyapadeśyadharmānupātī dharmī All these things follow upon a single thing they possess: the fact that neither their stopping nor their starting can ever be pointed to. shantodita-avyapadeshya dharma-anupati dharmi

Keywords: 1) avyapadeshya

ten du mepa

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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III.15 Kramānyatvaṁ pariṇāmānyatve hetuḥ The cause for their other stages follows too from the transformation. krama-anyatvam parinama-anyatve hetuh

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

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Commentary Three The End of Thoughts? III.9-10 The stopping occurs according to whether the seeds for rising from it or remaining within it are suppressed or manifest. Its duration thus follows upon the mind. This we call “the transformation of the stopping.” The termination, or elimination, of negativities due to this also depends upon the seeds. Vyutthana nirodha sanskarayor abhibhava pradurbhavau nirodha kshana chitta-anvayo nirodha parinamah. Tasya prashanta vahita sanskarat.

How does the team of perfect stillness and sword-like wisdom do its work? One day, after much practice and study—and if we’ve planted the necessary seeds by serving others—then we rise into an extraordinary meditation. Outside of time itself, we commune with ultimate reality, for the first time. After a brief while, we return. There is a similar but infinitely less important experience where we fall into a deep, nearly unconscious state of meditation. We may awaken from this meditation hours later, and it feels like only a moment has passed: as if our mind itself had stopped. But in neither meditation has the mind actually stopped. In the higher one, The Great Mistake has stopped for a while; in the lower one, only our surface consciousness has been suspended. In both cases we can only stay “in” as long as our seeds allow us: there is no conscious effort to awaken. Stopping The Great Mistake completely, even for a few minutes the first time, eliminates certain negative thoughts forever. But again, their eternal absence also relies on seeds. Using stillness and wisdom, to see thus how thoughts can pause, transforms the experience into the higher version.

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

How Things Begin and End III.11-12 What we call “the transformation of meditation” is a single-pointedness towards all existing objects, where the mind is also stopped, or resumes; again according to these two. And what we call “the transformation of single-pointedness” is where that state of mind itself either rests or arises, according again to the same two factors. Sarva-arthataika-agra tayoh kshayodayau chittasya samadhi parinamah. Tatah punah shantoditau tulya pratyayau chittasyaika-agrata parinamah.

And so we may experience deep states of meditation where our minds seem to be stopped. It’s important to use our higher stillness and meditation to understand the experience and transform it into something that can really help us with more serious issues, such as stopping pain and death itself. The question then becomes how long we can stay in a place where The Great Mistake has stopped. The answer, for the first time, is that we stay only for a few minutes. Our pure seeds are still too fragile to maintain the stopping: they spend themselves; the stopping stops; and The Great Mistake resumes, despite ourselves. During these few minutes, other powerful but fragile seeds have maintained both the meditational wisdom and the single-pointed stillness upon which it rests: our old team. They too though are at the mercy of their respective seeds—seeds to start, and seeds to stop. We transform the pair as well then when we turn them upon themselves, realizing fully that realization can only last as long as our seeds do. This in turn sends us back to work on the first two limbs of yoga: planting seeds by taking care of others.

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How Things Neither Begin nor End III.13-15 These are called “transformations” because that creates a change in the very condition of the qualities of things, whether external elements or internal powers. All these things follow upon a single thing they possess: the fact that neither their stopping nor their starting can ever be pointed to. The cause for their other stages follows too from the transformation. Etena bhutendriyeshu dharma lakshana-avastha parinama vyakhyatah. Shantodita-avyapadeshya dharma-anupati dharmi. Krama-anyatvam parinama-anyatve hetuh.

It’s crucial to realize that the simple act of understanding a thing can transform its very condition. A person who truly understands external physical elements like water can, through that act of understanding, change the water into something solid and walk upon it. By understanding the sense power of vision, they can see around the world, or cure the blind. All such transformations are only possible because all things are as they are at the mercy of one other thing. And this is the fact that no thing ever begins or ends. Nor does it pass through any other stage, like staying. Focus your mind upon the exact moment you read this…word. But there was a part of this moment when you started to see the w, and a later part of the moment when you finished seeing the w. And so on, infinitely. We can’t be seeing what we’re seeing, because there’s no point where we started to see it. If we do see words—and we do—then it can only be because our mind has placed them down here upon the page.

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

Practice Three Homework, Part Three 1) Explain briefly the two types of a “stopping meditation.” What do they stop?

3) It is often claimed by people who talk about the Yoga Sutra that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity. How does this relate to the two different kinds of “stopping,” or cessation?

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6) What is it that allows us to remain “in” a state of meditation? Include the Sanskrit word here, and related English words.

PART THREE: THE END OF THOUGHTS?

7) Why is it that our first direct perception of ultimate reality lasts for so short a time? How do we then increase this time, and how do we know how to increase it?

8) Having discussed what makes a state of meditation start or stop, Master Patañjali goes on to describe what makes things in general start or stop. He makes the surprising statement that all things within us and outside of us follow after one single quality: the fact that “their starting and their stopping cannot be pointed to.” Explain what this means with perceiving the word word right here on this page. Then explain how this helps us grasp how things are really coming from us.

9) Give the Sanskrit word for “cannot be pointed to,” listing related English words as well.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, analytical meditation on how impossible it is for us to read the word word on a page. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Three 1) Explain the most common meaning of the word “stopping” in a “stopping meditation.” This stopping is sometimes called a “cessation.” Give also the Sanskrit for this important term, and related English words.

2) It is often claimed by people who talk about the Yoga Sutra that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity. How does this relate to the two different kinds of “stopping,” or cessation?

3) Having discussed what makes a state of meditation start or stop, Master Patañjali goes on to describe what makes things in general start or stop. He makes the surprising statement that all things within us and outside of us follow after one single quality: the fact that “their starting and their stopping cannot be pointed to.” Explain what this means with perceiving the word word right here on this page. Then explain how this helps us grasp how things are really coming from us.

PART FOUR

The Power to Save the World

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Reading Four III.16 Pariṇāmatrayasaṁyamādatītānāgatajñānam The transformation of the combined effort allows one to see both past and future. parinama traya sanyamad atita-anagata jnyanam

PART FOUR: THE POWER TO SAVE THE WORLD

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III.17 Śabdārthapratyayānāmitaretarādhyāsātsaṅkarastatpravibhāgasaṁyamātsarvabhūtarutajñānam At some point you are able to sort out the confusion, where factors such as terms and objects are mixed up, one with the other. If you turn the combined effort on this, then you gain the ability to know all the languages of living kind. shabda-artha pratyayanam itaretara-adhyasat sankara tat pravibhaga sanyamat sarva bhuta ruta jnyanam

Keywords: 1) shabda dra 2) artha dun

PART FOUR: THE POWER TO SAVE THE WORLD

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III.18 Saṁskārasākṣātkaraṇātpūrvajātijñānam Making it manifest as a present seed allows you to see past lives. sanskara sakshat karanat purva jati jnyanam

Keywords: 1) sakshat ngunsum 2) purva jati kye-ngun

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III.19 Pratyayasya paracittajñānam With the necessary cause, one can read the minds of others. pratyayasya para chitta jnyanam

Keywords: 1) para chitta jnyana

parul semshe

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III.20 Na ca tatsālambanaṁ tasyāviṣayībhūtatvāt This though is not done through the one they’re based in, because of the fact that it would then not be their own experience. na cha tat sa-alambanam, Tasya-avishayi bhutatvat

Keywords: 1) salambana tenche

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III.21 Kāyarūpasaṁyamāttadgrāhyaśaktistambhe cakṣuḥprakāśāsamprayoge’ntardhānam If one turns the combined effort upon the body’s visible form, then one can attain invisibility, since the eye becomes disassociated from the object appearing to it, as the power to grasp unto this object is suspended. kaya rupa sanyamat tad grahya shakti stambhe chakshuh prakasha-asamprayogentardhanam

Keywords: 1) shakti nupa 2) chakshu mik

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III.22.1 Etena śabdādyantardhānam uktam The powers of shutting off sound and the rest are explained in the same way. etena shabdadyantardhanam uktam

Keywords:

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III.22.2 Sopakramaṃ nirupakramaṃ ca karma tat saṃyamād aparānta jñānam ariṣṭebhyo vā When you turn the combined effort upon those karmic seeds that will open and those that will not, then you gain the ability to see their final outcome. This can also be done by the reading of omens. sopakramam nirupakramam cha karma tat sanyamad aparanta jnyanam arishtebhyo va

Keywords: 1) upakrama gondzuk 2) seeds le 3) aparanta

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Commentary Four The Power to Save the World III.16-18 The transformation of the combined effort allows one to see both past and future. At some point you are able to sort out the confusion, where factors such as terms and objects are mixed up, one with the other. If you turn the combined effort on this, then you gain the ability to know all the languages of living kind. Making it manifest as a present seed allows you to see past lives. Parinama traya sanyamad atita-anagata jnyanam. Shabda-artha pratyayanam itaretara-adhyasat sankara tat pravibhaga sanyamat sarva bhuta ruta jnyanam. Sanskara sakshat karanat purva jati jnyanam.

If things actually begin only due to a tiny mental picture we impose upon two otherwise unrelated microseconds, then what things become when they finish beginning has to come from the same place. When you truly understand this, you can turn bricks into gold. But would you want to? With the unbearable emotional and physical pain that tears at every single person in this world, we would be compelled to use our abilities for a higher purpose. And so we begin the description of how we use the combination of stillness and wisdom to gain the powers of an Angel. If one moment in time is only a perception, then all moments are, and we could learn to see ahead and backwards in time, to help people. We would also learn that we are mistaking our tiny mental pictures for “actual” objects. Since these pictures are what words are, we would then gain power over words themselves: the ability to speak to all people, guide all people, in their own language. Transforming past and future seeds into present ones, we can describe to people the events of their past lives and our own, so they can grasp how everything comes from the way we’ve treated others.

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Reading the Minds of Others III.19-20 With the necessary cause, one can read the minds of others. This though is not done through the one they’re based in, because of the fact that it would then not be their own experience. Pratyayasya para chitta jnyanam. Na cha tat sa-alambanam, Tasya-avishayi bhutatvat.

In the previous chapters we spoke about the Path of Seeing: that brief period when we commune with ultimate reality. In the hours after this experience, we temporarily gain the ability to read other people’s minds. As we progress through the next path, this ability becomes more and more stable. Again, it’s not that we can share mental seeds which are based or located in another person. Seeds in our own mind can only be put there by our own actions towards others. If this were not the case, then we simply wouldn’t be here in this broken world. Masters of the past, in their infinite compassion, would have given us their own perfect seeds long ago. And so reading another person’s thoughts—and we really do—comes from our own seeds; if it came from theirs, then they wouldn’t be having the thoughts. Reading other people’s minds—or even just sincerely trying to—is an important skill if we have something precious to teach them. We can peek in and see what they enjoy, and what they hope for, and the extent at that moment of their capacity to digest ideas.

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The Power of Invisibility III.21-22.1 If one turns the combined effort upon the body’s visible form, then one can attain invisibility, since the eye becomes disassociated from the object appearing to it, as the power to grasp unto this object is suspended. The powers of shutting off sound and the rest are explained in the same way. Kaya rupa sanyamat tad grahya shakti stambhe chakshuh prakasha-asamprayogentardhanam. Etena shabdadyantardhanam uktam.

People who are advanced in the path gain the power to become invisible whenever they wish to. Again, this is a matter of consciously manipulating how the pieces of an object—such as the color and outline of one’s own body—are organized into that object by the mind. And this can only be done if the correct seeds have been planted. And this can only be done if one has been good to others: good enough to see them not see you, if that could help them. We should say here that not everyone who possesses powers such as invisibility necessarily fully understands where they come from, how to keep them, or how to use them to help others. Sometimes a miracle may happen to us simply because of some old good seeds suddenly ripening—but if we don’t understand the process, we can’t repeat it. People who meditate very regularly, even if they only use meditation to “space out” for a while, may temporarily gain a few powers. This is because, in any deep state of meditation, we simply cannot commit the negative actions and thoughts towards others which keep us from these powers.

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Where It All Leads III.22.2 When you turn the combined effort upon those karmic seeds that will open and those that will not, then you gain the ability to see their final outcome. This can also be done by the reading of omens. Sopakramam nirupakramam cha karma tat sanyamad aparanta jnyanam. Arishtebhyo va.

You buy your mother-in-law a new shower mat, in the hopes that she might like you more. The next day she slips on it and hurts herself. We know enough by now, about how things really work, to know that she didn’t slip because of the mat—but rather because of something negative she herself did to someone prior to that. And our good intentions cannot go wrong: the desire to please her will bring us many good things in the future. Which doesn’t change the fact that it would be nice to know, with confidence, the exact final consequences we can expect from any particular action we undertake. Someone who really understands how the seeds work can perceive which seeds in the storehouse will eventually open and sprout, and which will forever lie unopened. This is because merely failing to understand how the seeds work is what makes impure seeds viable and potent. Remove The Great Mistake, and old bad seeds never go off. There are specific methods for using omens to see what might happen— such as foretelling death from people’s shadows. In the end these too only work if we have the right seeds, from taking care of others.

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Practice Four Homework, Part Four 1) We’ve talked already about how impossible it is for us to read the word word, beginning with the “first” piece of it and working our way from left to right. We see that it’s impossible for us to be “reading” it, and so we get a glimpse into how—in reality—we must be “dropping” the word down on the page ourselves. Explain how this applies then to time itself.

2) We’ve seen how we impose tiny pictures on both pieces of objects and moments of time to create the impression of things and time. Now relate this idea to words and languages.

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3) Give the Sanskrit words that Master Patañjali uses here for terms and objects. Then speak a bit about the “mix-up” or confusion here: speak about whether terms or the objects to which they refer come first.

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6) Master Patañjali, here in the third chapter, describes the power of invisibility. Do we need to understand a power like this in order to get it?

7) What is it that allows a karmic seed to remain viable and potent as it sits within our mind?

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8) Master Patañjali says that, by using the combined effort, we can reach a point where we gain the ability to see the final outcome of the deeds or karmas that we perform. Speak about the single most important element that we need to watch in order for the results of our actions to be predictable. Mention how the idea of “illusion” comes in here. And then finally give the Sanskrit word for the “final outcome” of a karma, along with related English words.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, analytical meditation on trying to see the tiny mental pictures that you use when you perceive things. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Four 1) Give the Sanskrit words that Master Patañjali uses here for terms and objects. Then speak a bit about the “mix-up” or confusion here: speak about whether terms or the objects to which they refer come first.

2) At some point in our spiritual evolution—and especially in the hours following our first direct perception of emptiness—we gain the ability to read the minds of other people. Are we then sharing their mental seeds? Give a proof for your answer.

3) Master Patañjali says that, by using the combined effort, we can reach a point where we gain the ability to see the final outcome of the deeds or karmas that we perform. Speak about the single most important element that we need to watch in order for the results of our actions to be predictable. Mention how the idea of “illusion” comes in here. And then finally give the Sanskrit word for the “final outcome” of a karma, along with related English words.

PART FIVE

The True Source of Power

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Reading Five III.23 Maitryādiṣu balāni The powers are to be found in love and the rest. maitryadishu balani

Keywords: 1) maitri jampa 2) bala top

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III.24 Baleṣu hastibalādīni And in these powers lie the powers of the War-Elephant. baleshu hasti bala-adini

Keywords: 1) bala top 2) hastin lakden

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III.25 Pravṛttyālokanyāsātsūkṣmavyavahitaviprakṛṣṭajñānam If you place your eye on the true causes, then you gain the ability to perceive even very subtle things at a great distance away. pravirttyaloka nyasat sukshma vyavahita viprakirshta jnyanam

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III.26 Bhuvana jñānaṁ sūrye saṁyamāt Turn the combined effort upon the sun, and you will understand the earth. bhuvana jnyanam surye sanyamat

Keywords: 1) bhuvana sa 2) surya nyima

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Commentary Five The True Source of Power III.23-25 The powers are to be found in love and the rest. And in these powers lie the powers of the War-Elephant, and all the others too. If you place your eye on the true causes, then you gain the ability to perceive even very subtle things at a great distance away. Maitryadishu balani. Baleshu hasti bala-adini. Pravirttyaloka nyasat sukshma vyavahita viprakirshta jnyanam.

It’s obvious by now that the extraordinary, unexpected powers we might want to seek in order to be of service to others all come from planting the right seeds. And so here the Master reminds us of the very most powerful way of planting these seeds: the practice of the Four Infinite Thoughts, from the first chapter. Infinite love, which wants to give every living being everything their heart desires. Infinite compassion, which wants to remove their tiniest little pain. Infinite joy, which wants to take them to a higher happiness than just houses and hamburgers: to a place of infinite happiness, beyond all fear or death. And infinite equanimity, which wants to do this for everyone, not just friends or family. In Master Patañjali’s days, an elephant was the ultimate war machine, powerful enough to destroy any obstacle. And so a being who had reached spiritual perfection was called a War-Elephant. When we transform into this Angel, we will have ultimate powers: ultimate compassion; a knowledge of all things; and the ability to show ourselves anywhere in the universe, any time, to help others. This is the true evolution of all the powers. You will see a child fall from worlds away, and be there to catch him or her, before you think to.

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The Channel of the Sun III.26 Turn the combined effort upon the sun, and you will understand the earth. Bhuvana jnyanam surye sanyamat.

Back in the second chapter, when we spoke about the physical yoga exercises, we mentioned three main channels where inner wind or prana travels through the body. It’s crucial to understand these channels, because we can then control our very thoughts, which are linked to the winds. We actually work on the physical body to stop The Great Mistake of the mind. The central channel follows the spine; slightly to our right of it runs the sun channel. Tied to the winds that flow in this channel travel our “hot” negative thoughts: anger, hatred, jealousy, all based on disliking objects, events, and people because we fail to understand how we ourselves have produced them. Stilling the turbulence of inner winds within the sun channel has the effect of freeing us from misunderstanding our outer reality: the world, the earth. The beauty of yoga is that we work on this channel simply and effectively through selected physical yoga exercises. Breath control, practiced with authentic guidance, further achieves this goal. And then finally we use the teamwork of the last three limbs of yoga— mental focus, fixation, and wisdom—to still the sun channel from the inside.

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Practice Five Homework, Part Five 1) A good part of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra is devoted to both worldly and divine forms of power. Master Patañjali is sure to identify the true source of all these powers. Name this source, then list and briefly describe all of its different parts, along with the Sanskrit name for each of the parts.

2) Name three of the powers of the War-Elephant; explain what a War-Elephant is doing in the Yoga Sutra; and give the Sanskrit for War-Elephant, along with related English words.

3) Master Patañjali says that “If you turn the combined effort upon the sun, you will understand the earth.” Explain briefly what the word “sun” here refers to, giving the relevant Sanskrit word; its ancient Indo-European root; and some related English words.

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4) Remind us what the “combined effort” is, and what it would mean to “turn this effort upon the sun.”

5) Describe the location and physical appearance of the channel of the sun; relate this to its most common Sanskrit name in later classical yoga texts; and give a related English word.

6) Why do Tibetans refer to the channels of the sun and the moon as tri-shing, or “ivy”?

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7) Explain how the channel of the sun relates to the word hatha, and to the idea of hatha yoga.

8) What are the emotions (not the view of the world; we’ll get to that later) which run upon the winds in the channel of the sun?

9) At a certain point in the body, the channels of the sun and moon join the central channel, like pieces of plumbing. This connecting point is compared to a famed place at Allahabad, India, and to a significant recent event. Explain why, then give the location of this juncture in the body, also reviewing the Sanskrit name for the point and related English words.

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10) What does it mean to “understand the earth”?

11) List three different areas of the onion skin from which we might bring about changes in the channel of the sun.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, a very quiet, single-pointed meditation, trying to “feel” within yourself your sun channel. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Five 1) A good part of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra is devoted to both worldly and divine forms of power. Master Patañjali is sure to identify the true source of all these powers. Name this source, then list and briefly describe all of its different parts, along with the Sanskrit name for each of the parts.

2) At a certain point in the body, the channels of the sun and moon join the central channel, like pieces of plumbing. This connecting point is compared to a famed place at Allahabad, India, and to a significant recent event. Explain why, then give the location of this juncture in the body, also reviewing the Sanskrit name for the point and related English words.

3) What does it mean to “understand the earth”?

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PART SIX

The Channel of the Moon

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Reading Six III.27 Candre tārā vyūha jñānam You will understand the arrangement of the stars if you turn this same effort upon the moon. chandre tara vyuha jnyanam

Keywords: 1) chandra dawa 2) tara karma 3) vyuha kupa

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III.28 Dhruve tad gati jñānam Turn the effort upon the polestar, and you will understand their workings. dhruve tad gati jnyanam

Keywords: 1) dhruva tenma 2) gati drupa

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III.29 Nābhicakre kāyavyūhajñānam Turn the same effort upon the wheel at the navel, and you will understand the structure of the body. nabhi chakre kaya vyuha jnyanam

Keywords: 1) nabhi tewa 2) chakra korlo

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III.30 Kaṇṭhakūpe kṣutpipāsānivṛttiḥ Turn it upon the throat, and you put an end to hunger and thirst. kantha kupe kshut pipasa nivirttih

Keywords: 1) kantha drin

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III.31 Kūrmanāḍyāṁ sthairyam This is a stable state of the channels of the turtle. kurma nadyam sthairyam

Keywords: 1) nadi tsa

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Commentary Six The Channel of the Moon III.27 You will understand the arrangement of the stars if you turn this same effort upon the moon. Chandre tara vyuha jnyanam.

To our left side of the central channel runs the channel of the moon. If the sun channel, which is blood red, carries largely male energy—externally-focused and action-oriented; then the milky-colored moon channel carries mostly female energy—introspective and thinking-oriented. Within this channel run all our thoughts of liking things in the wrong way because we misunderstand them: taking the last maple-covered donut for ourselves. When our yoga practice stills the winds in the moon channel, the very root of these thoughts is stopped. This is the tendency to see ourselves and our own mind—all the tiny sparks or stars of consciousness within us—as something too that comes from its own side, and not from our seeds. Something to realize here: the very seeds which create us create our world. The seeds that create the first division of all—the channels of sun and moon within our very bodies—also make us male or female. They create day and night, sun and moon, you and me, earth and stars. The state of our world is a perfect reflection of the state of our channels, and thus our hearts.

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The Channel of the Polestar III.28 Turn the effort upon the polestar, and you will understand their workings. Dhruve tad gati jnyanam.

The central channel, colored like crystal flame, runs up and down the body like the great axis around which the stars turn. It follows the line of the spine from between our legs to the tip of our head, curving down to a point between the eyebrows. Linked to the winds in this channel run all our good thoughts: caring for others, watching what they want and need, and most importantly, the realization that this in itself will literally create a perfect world. The three channels are joined together below the area of our navel. Simply reading and understanding the words on this page sucks inner wind or prana out of the troublesome side channels, and directs it into the pure central channel. This in turn further reveals to us the workings of earth and stars. You must realize that the true purpose of all physical yoga practice is to guide inner wind out of the side channels and into the central channel. This triggers our progress through all five paths, especially the direct perception of ultimate reality. When all the inner wind dissolves into the central channel, the body changes from flesh to light, and you stand upon all worlds.

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Chokepoints and Chakras III.29-31 Turn the same effort upon the wheel at the navel, and you will understand the structure of the body. Turn it upon the throat, and you put an end to hunger and thirst. This is a stable state of the channels of the turtle. Nabhi chakre kaya vyuha jnyanam. Kantha kupe kshut pipasa nivirttih. Kurma nadyam sthairyam.

As they follow the central channel up the body, the two side channels twist around it at certain spots, like vines. This creates chokepoints which obstruct the flow of winds within the central channel, thus hindering the sweet and wise thoughts linked to these winds. During the development of the inner channels within the fetus, pressure builds up at these chokepoints, and secondary channels spurt out from them. Looking down the spine, these are seen radiating out like the spokes of a wheel. Thus they are called chakras, from the Sanskrit word for “wheel.” The first wheel to form in the womb is at the navel. Eventually an entire network develops, and the very structure of our skeleton, blood vessels, and nervous system forms around the channels, like ice around the contours of a twig. This means that any physical ailment we ever have can be traced to the channels, and cured, with understanding. Turning this understanding upon the chakra at the neck allows us, in time, to overcome even the need to eat. We gradually control all five physical senses, which are tied to five secondary winds such as the “turtle” wind, responsible for hearing and related to our turtle-shaped liver.

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Practice Six Homework, Part Six 1) Master Patañjali says that we must “turn the combined effort upon the moon.” What is the “moon” here? Also give the relevant Sanskrit word, and related English words.

2) Describe then how a person might actually turn the combined effort upon this moon.

3) Describe the location and physical appearance of the channel of the moon. Give its most common Sanskrit name in the late classical texts on yoga, then give some related English words.

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4) What general types of emotions run through the channel of the moon?

5) What does Master Patañjali mean when he says that we can come to “understand the arrangement of the stars”? Include the Sanskrit word for “star” here, and some related English words.

6) Speak a little bit about where our sense of duality comes from, being sure to distinguish between “good” and “bad” versions of this tendency. Then give a real-life example about how we can deal with the false sense of duality.

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7) Master Patañjali says that “if we turn the combined effort upon the polestar, we can understand their workings.” What does “polestar” refer to here, and what is the “their” in “their workings”? Remember to give the Sanskrit word here for “polestar,” and some related English words.

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10) Explain what the word chakra literally means; mention some related English words; and then relate this name to the structure of the inner channels.

11) Give the general Sanskrit name for “inner channel”; explain the root of the word (and what it has to do with channels); and give some related English words.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, get very quiet and try to “feel” your central channel and side channels. See if you can get any sense of whether prana is moving up or down each individual channel. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Six 1) Describe the location and physical appearance of the channel of the moon. Give its most common Sanskrit name in the late classical texts on yoga, then give some related English words.

2) Speak a little bit about where our sense of duality comes from, being sure to distinguish between “good” and “bad” versions of this tendency. Then give a real-life example about how we can deal with the false sense of duality.

3) Another Sanskrit name for the central channel is avadhuti, and in fact one of most famous yogis of our lineage went by the name of Avadhutipa. What does this name mean, and what would it have to do with a certain special planet? What second sense of the word led the Tibetans to translate it two different ways?

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4) Explain what the word chakra literally means; mention some related English words; and then relate this name to the structure of the inner channels.

5) Explain the role of the navel chakra in the formation of the inner channels, clarifying as well whether there is any actual connection between the channels of the sun and moon, and the sun and moon in the sky.

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PART SEVEN

Everything from Understanding

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Reading Seven III.32 Mūrdhajyotiṣi siddhadarśanam Turn it upon the radiance at the tip of the head, and you will see the powers. murdha jyotishi siddha darshanam

Keywords: 1) murdha tse 2) jyotis

kar-u

3) siddha ngudrup

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III.33 Prātibhādvā sarvam All of them come from total understanding. pratibhad va sarvam

Keywords: 1) pratibha nangsel

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III.34 Hṛdaye cittasaṁvit Turn it upon the heart, and you will know the mind. hirdaye chitta sanvit

Keywords: 1) hirdaya nying

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III.35 Sattvapuruṣayoratyantāsaṅkīrṇayoḥ pratyayāviśeṣo bhogaḥ parārthatvātsvārthasaṁyamātpuruṣajñānam The causes for reality and the person, however very distinct from one another these two may be, are no different. We experience them not because of something outside of ourselves, but as something from ourselves. Turn the combined effort upon this, and you will understand the person. sattva purushayor atyanta-asankirnayoh pratyaya-avishesho bhogah para-arthatvat sva-artha sanyamat purusha jnyanam

Keywords: 1) sattva denpa 2) purusha kyebu 3) parartha shendun 4) svartha rangdun

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III.36 Tataḥ prātibhaśrāvaṇavedanādarśāsvādavārtā jāyante With this you develop supernormal abilities of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. tatah pratibha shravana vedana-adarsha svada varta jayante

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III.37 Te samādhāvupasargā vyutthāne siddhayaḥ During meditation, these could be an obstacle; when you rise from meditation, they are powers. te samadhau upasarga vyutthane siddhayah

Keywords: 1) vyutthana dangwa

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Commentary Seven Everything from Understanding III.32-34 Turn it upon the radiance at the tip of the head, and you will see the powers. All of them come from total understanding. Turn it upon the heart, and you will know the mind. Murdha jyotishi siddha darshanam. Pratibhad va sarvam. Hirdaye chitta sanvit.

The inner wheels or chakras begin as chokepoints, but the very act of focusing upon them with understanding releases the tightness of the two side channels wrapped around them. Think of the inner wind or prana within the three main channels as being a certain fixed amount, like the air inside a toy animal made of long thin balloons. If you squeeze the tummy, the legs get fatter. If you work on a chokepoint with thoughts of knowledge and caring for others, inner wind leaves the side channels that caused the chokepoint in the first place. The chakra then becomes a center of radiance, and high spiritual realizations. Using this method, we can release a radiant, white, honey-like substance within the chakra at the tip of our head. This triggers worldly powers, and then divine ones. Again, all the powers ultimately support and also spring from a clear understanding of the seeds as they create the world. Within the chakra at the heart lies an indestructible drop of consciousness, infinitely smaller than the tip of a needle. Herein lies the storehouse of billions of seeds, projecting forth our life. When this chakra heart is opened, ultimate love bursts forth as crystal light.

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Know Thyself III.35 The causes for reality and the person, however very distinct from one another these two may be, are no different. We experience them not because of something outside of ourselves, but as something from ourselves. Turn the combined effort upon this, and you will understand the person. Sattva purushayor atyanta-asankirnayoh pratyaya-avishesho bhogah para-arthatvat sva-artha sanyamat purusha jnyanam.

It’s a lot easier to deal with the misunderstanding of our outer reality which runs in the sun channel, than to correct the misunderstanding of the person— meaning ourselves—which runs in the moon channel. Take the outer reality of a pen, for example. If I hold a pen up to you and ask you what it is, you automatically say “A pen.” And in that split second you also believe that it’s a pen from its own side. You think that “pen-ness” is somehow coming out of the pen itself. But if we hold the same object up to a dog, they simply see it as a mildly interesting stick: perhaps something good to chew on. A moment’s reflection tells us that neither view of the object is more “correct.” And we also quickly see that “pen-ness” is not exuding from the pen. Rather, “pen” is a perfect little idea-picture imposed upon a shiny cylinder by my own mind. And which picture my mind comes up with all depends on the seeds—on how I’ve treated others. That’s in fact what makes me a human, and the dog a dog. Even the question of whether you can think these ideas is coming from the seeds.

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When Two is One III.36-37 With this you develop supernormal abilities of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. During meditation, these could be an obstacle; when you rise from meditation, they are powers. Tatah pratibha shravana vedana-adarsha svada varta jayante. Te samadhau upasarga vyutthane siddhayah.

The ability to understand a simple pen then is a powerful tool that allows us to go behind reality and make adjustments at its very core: sort of like having the source code for a computer program, or working on an organism at the level of its genetic code. The distances at which we can hear two other people having a conversation is an example. If a certain number of feet were inherently the number of feet at which we can no longer hear what they’re saying, then someone standing next to us who has much more acute hearing than us shouldn’t be able to hear them either. Just like the pen and the dog. And so rather than bringing about some miraculous change in our ability to hear, we simply replace the seeds in our own mind which are creating the limit at which we can hear. A hundred feet becomes two feet, and we can listen to people talking two houses down the street. This could obviously drive you mad, and make activities like sleep and meditation impossible. Generally speaking we are automatically protected by the fact that such powers are only gained through the desire to use them to serve others.

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NOTES:

Practice Seven

Homework, Part Seven 1) Explain the idea of working at a crucial point (ne du dunpa in Tibetan), in order to turn a chakra from a chokepoint into a center of radiance and high spiritual realizations. Include the analogy of a tree.

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3) There is a name for the central channel which emphasizes how we can see ultimate reality when the inner winds flow freely through this channel. Give this name in English and in Sanskrit. Explain finally what the book called Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says will happen if the inner winds do flow through this channel.

5) Master Patañjali makes the statement that “all of them come from total understanding.” What does “all of them” refer to, and how do they come from total understanding? Give the word here in Sanskrit for “total understanding,” along with related English words.

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6) In the verses at this point in the third chapter, Master Patañjali uses a word for the powers or spiritual attainments which is also found in the original name of a famous religious figure in Indian history. Explain.

NOTES:

8) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely?

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9) Is it easier to overcome the misunderstanding of “my world” that runs through the sun channel, or the misunderstanding of “me” that runs through the moon channel?

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, imagining the first moment of ultimate love: a pillar of crystal light is pouring out of your heart chakra to touch every being in the universe; you see each being’s face directly; you know that you will now forever serve them. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Seven 1) Explain the idea of working at a crucial point (ne du dunpa in Tibetan), in order to turn a chakra from a chokepoint into a center of radiance and high spiritual realizations. Include the analogy of a tree.

NOTES:

2) There is a name for the central channel which emphasizes how we can see ultimate reality when the inner winds flow freely through this channel. Give this name in English and in Sanskrit. Explain finally what the book called Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says will happen if the inner winds do flow through this channel.

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3) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely?

4) Explain the example of the pen, which allows us to understand where “me” comes from through understanding where an object outside of me comes from. Be sure to cover, clearly, how understanding the pen allows us to understand exactly the type of being we ourselves are.

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The Rainbow in a Prison

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Reading Eight III.38 Bandhakāraṇaśaithilyātpracārasaṁvedanācca cittasya paraśarīrāveśaḥ When you loosen the ties which bind you, and know this for a prison, then you can send your mind to enter another body. bandha karana shaithilyat prachara sanvedanach cha chittasya parasharir aveshah

Keywords: 1) prachara tsunra 2) parasharir avesha

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III.39 Udānajayājjalapaṅkakaṇṭakādiṣvasaṅga utkrāntiśca When you gain mastery over the upward-running wind, then you can pass unimpeded over bodies of water, swamps, thornbushes and the like. udana jayaj jala pangka kantaka-adishvasanga utkrantish cha

Keywords: 1) udana gyen-gyu 2) asanga tokme

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III.40 Samānajayājjvalanam When you gain mastery over the co-resident wind, you gain inner fire. samana jayaj jvalanam

Keywords: 1) samana nyamne 2) jvalana barje

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III.41 Śrotrākāśayoḥ sambandhasaṁyamāddivyaṁ śrotram When you turn the combined effort upon the relationship between the ear and space, you gain the angel power of hearing. shrotra-akashayoh sambandha sanyamad divyam shrotram

Keywords: 1) akasha namka 2) divyam shrotram

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III.42 Kāyākāśayoḥ sambandhasaṁyamāllaghutūlasamāpatteścākāśagamanam When you turn this effort upon the relationship between the body and space, you gain a power of meditation where you become light as a wisp of cotton, and can thus fly through the sky. kaya-akashayoh sambandha sayamal laghu tula samapattesh cha-akasha gamanam

Keywords: 1) kaya ku 2) samapatti nyomjuk

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Commentary Eight The Rainbow in a Prison III.38 When you loosen the ties which bind you, and know this for a prison, then you can send your mind to enter another body. Bandha karana shaithilyat prachara sanvedanach cha chittasya parasharir aveshah.

We dearly love our bodies of flesh and blood, but imagine how they would seem to a person whose body had already changed to light. Sort of a slimy prison. A dangerous place to be stuck in. Incidentally, you maintain the general outer form of a human being when your body does change. Other people (remember the pen and the dog) might even see you the same as before. You and others like you, though, see you as the most exquisite being you can imagine right now, magnified a thousand times over. And so sometimes the body of light is called the “rainbow” body, because from a distance a rainbow looks like solid stuff, but up close you can pass your hand through it: no more guts and blood. Since a dog in the end is only the seeds to see things as a dog, a person again who really understands seeds could take on various outer forms, and appear to be born as various different people, if this would help us. They know it’s easier for us, on a day-to-day level, to relate to someone fairly much like ourselves. And so at the beginning they come to us that way.

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NOTES:

The Five Primary Winds III.39-40 When you gain mastery over the upward-running wind, then you can pass unimpeded over bodies of water, swamps, thornbushes and the like. When you gain mastery over the co-resident wind, you gain inner fire. Udana jayaj jala pangka kantaka-adishvasanga utkrantish cha. Samana jayaj jvalanam.

When the inner winds race to a specific part of the body and gather there, even momentarily, to perform a necessary bodily function, we identify them as one of the five primary winds. The first of these, the “pervasive” wind, covers the entire body, governing the flow of all other winds to whatever place they are needed. The “life” wind maintains life itself and also the passage of breath. The “downward-clearing” wind assures the elimination of feces and urine. The “upward-running” wind mentioned here relates to eating and speaking, also assisting the upward movement of any other wind. When with knowledge of seeds we gain mastery over this wind, we can move quickly—even over obstacles like lakes or thick brush—if someone needs help. In our final evolution, we pass through planets and galaxies at the speed of thought—the speed of a seed ripening. The final primary wind “resides together” with both digestive fire and mystic fire near the navel. On the first level, it distills nutrients from food and distributes them throughout the body. On the second level, it triggers a downward flow of the radiant nectar from the tip of the head, engendering knowledge, bliss, and our angelic transformation.

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The Three Skies III.41-42 When you turn the combined effort upon the relationship between the ear and space, you gain the angel power of hearing. When you turn this effort upon the relationship between the body and space, you gain a power of meditation where you become light as a wisp of cotton, and can thus fly through the sky. Shrotra-akashayoh sambandha sanyamad divyam shrotram. Kaya-akashayoh sambandha sayamal laghu tula samapattesh cha-akasha gamanam.

The word here for “space” had three meaning in ancient times. One was simply sky, space, the distance between things. The second meaning, as we’ve mentioned before, was place itself: that unchanging thing which objects enter, stay in, and then exit. The third was space in the sense of the void that’s left when you find out that something you thought was there never was. The feeling you get when you reach into your pocket after a meal at an expensive restaurant, and realize you left your wallet at home. We get the same feeling of absence when we realize that everything around us is not coming at us, but from us. Seeing how this space allows us to hear, seeing how this space allows our body to be there, allows us again to adjust the “switches” on both these objects. Unheard switched to heard, heavy switched to light. Again we use the resulting powers first to help a limited number of people. As we grow, the number becomes infinite. All the powers evolve this way— from mundane, to helpful, to perfected. In the end the mind flies free through the sky of what was never there anyway.

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NOTES:

Practice Eight

Homework, Part Eight 1) What does the expression “rainbow in a prison” mean?

2) How does the inner prana in general become a specific one of the five primary winds?

3) Give the Sanskrit name for “inner wind” in the sense of the five primary winds, along with its root and some related English words.

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4) Describe the function of the “pervasive” wind. Then give the Sanskrit word for it, and some related English words.

5) Describe the function of the “life” wind, clarifying some confusion that might come up about its Sanskrit name. List finally some related English words.

6) Describe the function of the “downward-clearing” wind; give its Sanskrit name; and some related English words.

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7) Give the two functions of the “upward-running” wind, then its Sanskrit name and related English words.

NOTES: 8) Describe the short-term and the ultimate results we attain when we use our knowledge of seeds to gain mastery over the upward-running wind.

9) Describe the meaning of the name of the wind that “resides together,” as well as its two functions. Include the Sanskrit name of the wind, and related English words.

10) Explain the role that two of the five primary winds play in the idea of hatha yoga.

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11) Explain the “three skies,” clarifying why the last one might enable us to hear sounds even light-years away, or to fly even to other worlds.

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, going over the names of the five primary winds in your mind, and then attempting to “feel” them in your own body. Meditation dates and times (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Part Eight 1) Give the Sanskrit name for “inner wind” in the sense of the five primary winds, along with its root and some related English words.

NOTES:

2) Describe the function of the “life” wind, clarifying some confusion that might come up about its Sanskrit name. List finally some related English words.

3) Explain the role that two of the five primary winds play in the idea of hatha yoga.

4) Explain the “three skies,” clarifying why the last one might enable us to hear sounds even light-years away, or to fly even to other worlds.

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PART NINE

The Four Bodies

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Reading Nine III.43 Vahirakalpitā vṛttirmahāvidehā tataḥ prakāśāvaraṇakṣayaḥ Those who no longer perceive anything as being outside experience the transformation into the ultimate body. With this, every veil which covers the light is destroyed. bahir akalpita virttir mahavideha tatah prakasha-avarana kshayah

Keywords: 1) bahis chirul 2) akalpita tokpa mepa 3) videha lupak 4) prakasha nangwa 5) avarana drippa

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III.44 Udānajayājjalapaṅkakaṇṭakādiṣvasaṅga utkrāntiśca Turn the combined effort upon the fact that this gross body is an object which comes from that subtle nature, and you’ll gain mastery over the elements. sthula svarupa sukshma-anvaya-arthavattva sanyamad bhuta jayah

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III.45 Tato’ṇimādiprādurbhāvaḥ kāyasampattaddharmānabhighātaśca With this you attain power at microscopic levels and all the rest. You achieve a perfect body, which cannot be hurt by any existing thing. tatonima-adi pradurbhavah kaya sampat tad dharma-anabhighatash cha

Keywords: 1) anima trawa 2) sampat

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III.46 Rūpalāvaṇyabalavajrasaṁhananatvāni kāyasampat You gain the body of perfection: exquisite in its appearance, strong, solid as diamond itself. rupa lavanya bala vajra sanhananatvani kaya sampat

Keywords: 1) vajra dorje 2) kaya sampat

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III.47 Grahaṇasvarūpāsmitānvayārthavattvasaṁyamādindriyajayaḥ If you turn the combined effort upon the fact that the senses which hold onto objects also follow upon their true nature, their real self, then you gain mastery over the powers of sense. grahana svarupa-asmita-anvaya-arthavattva sanyamad indriya jayah

Keywords: 1) asmita ngao nyi

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III.48 Tato manojavitvaṁ vikaraṇabhāvaḥ pradhānajayaśca Thus then you also master that thing which takes the aspect: the main thing, the swift messenger of the mind. tato mano javitvam vikarana bhavah pradhana jayash cha

Keywords: 1) manas yi

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III.49 Sattvapuruṣānyatākhyātimātrasya sarvabhāvādhiṣṭhātṛtvaṁ sarvajñātṛtvaṁ ca This then becomes the support of all things, and a knower of all things; for all things— whether the reality around us or the person themselves— are nothing more than its manifestations. Sattva purusha-anyata-akhyati matrasya sarva bhava-adhishthatirtvam sarvajnyatirtvam cha

Keywords: 1) sarvajnya tamche kyenpa

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III.50 Tadvairāgyādapi doṣavījakṣaye kaivalyam And if we can avoid attachment even to this, we can destroy all the negative seeds. Herein lies total purity. tad vairagyad api dosha bija kshaye kaivalyam

Keywords: 1) vairagya chakdrel 2) dosha nyepa 3) bija sabun 4) kaivalya bashikpa

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Commentary Nine The Four Bodies III.43-44 Those who no longer perceive anything as being outside experience the transformation into the ultimate body. With this, every veil which covers the light is destroyed. Turn the combined effort upon the fact that this gross body is an object which comes from that subtle nature, and you’ll gain mastery over the elements. Bahir akalpita virttir mahavideha tatah prakasha-avarana kshayah. Sthula svarupa sukshma-anvaya-arthavattva sanyamad bhuta jayah.

These lines mark the point at which the combined effort of stillness and understanding has been sustained for so long that we undergo the final transformation, into a being who can serve all worlds. At this point we will have four distinct parts, or bodies. In a way, we already possess the first part of an Angel, and we always have. It is the simple fact that we are not what we are: you are not the person they give that word, your name. Rather, the name—the seed picture—came first, and then made you you. Since you are not you any other way, you are available to become something else—an Angel. And you always have been. This is your first body. When we grasp that the way we look—our physical appearance—is also available in the same way, we begin the hard work of collecting enough seeds to change the actual physical elements of our body into those of the Angel.

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NOTES:

The Last One Left III.45-46 With this you attain power at microscopic levels and all the rest. You achieve a perfect body, which cannot be hurt by any existing thing. You gain the body of perfection: exquisite in its appearance, strong, solid as diamond itself. Tatonima-adi pradurbhavah kaya sampat tad dharma-anabhighatash cha. Rupa lavanya bala vajra sanhananatvani kaya sampat.

There is a traditional list of eight low-level powers which we can use to help others in a limited way: the ability to shrink and pass through a crack, or to lighten your body and fly through the air—the types of powers mentioned earlier. By this stage though we have reached the ultimate evolution of these powers, which is the second body of the Angel: billions of different physical forms that we send out. Imagine the ability to appear as a pet dog to a lonely person, or even as their favorite television show. Then imagine filling an entire world with different beings, all interacting with each other; plus all the things they use every day. For a finished yogi, the first is considered “small” stuff; the second is “lightweight.” And so I really could be the last person left here who hasn’t turned into an Angel. At the center of all these forms that the Angel is sending out sits their “home” body. This is the third body, the paradise body, exquisite and indestructible. And she will never leave us, until we become her.

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The Body of All-Knowing III.47-48 If you turn the combined effort upon the fact that the senses which hold onto objects also follow upon their true nature, their real self, then you gain mastery over the powers of sense. Thus then you also master that thing which takes the aspect: the main thing, the swift messenger of the mind. Grahana svarupa-asmita-anvaya-arthavattva sanyamad indriya jayah. Tato mano javitvam vikarana bhavah pradhana jayash cha.

So far we have attained three bodies: the “emptiness” body, which makes all the other ones possible, plus two physical bodies: one that we send out in infinite forms; and another that we stay in ourselves, within our heaven. The fourth body then is the body of what our mind will become. Our sense powers take ahold of objects, and then report back to the mind. The mind, as we’ll see more fully in the last chapter, is like a mirror, assuming the form or aspect of whatever the senses present to it. When you see a red apple, a part of your mind is in a sense imbued with redness. It takes a split-second for the mind to identify the objects presented to it— including organizing thought-sounds into thought-words. So in one way we’re always a split-second behind what’s going on around us, but the principal character, mind, is so quick that we never notice. In the last chapter we’ll see how the true nature of every part of this process is that it’s still coming from the mind. Understanding this allows us to reach the fourth body: the power to know all things.

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NOTES:

Herein Lies Total Purity

III.49-50 This then becomes the support of all things, and a knower of all things; for all things— whether the reality around us or the person themselves— are nothing more than its manifestations. And if we can avoid attachment even to this, we can destroy all the negative seeds. Herein lies total purity. Sattva purusha-anyata-akhyati matrasya sarva bhava-adhishthatirtvam sarvajnyatirtvam cha. Tad vairagyad api dosha bija kshaye kaivalyam.

The Master again summarizes the only way that we could reach the four bodies of an Angel. In the end, the mind underlies all things—projecting everything we are aware of, even ourselves. At the end, the mind then fulfills its true capacity, of seeing directly every one of these objects—past, present, or future. In one final mental twist, we need to understand that even our understanding of how all this works is itself a projection: a mental picture presented to our mind when extraordinarily rare and powerful seeds break open. The ideas presented in Master Patañjali’s little book on yoga, especially the description of the powers that we’ve just covered, are coming from you. Whether you grasp these ideas to fulfill the destiny of this world, or whether it all seems a little far-fetched this afternoon, is also coming from you. Understanding this emptiness of understanding itself has the effect of destroying billions of old negative seeds within our mind. This in itself takes us a long way towards the final goal: total purity.

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Practice Nine Homework, Part Nine 1) When we do finally succeed in bringing the inner winds to stay and dissolve in the central channel, we become the angel of a billion worlds. This angel has four forms, or bodies; name them in English and in Sanskrit, and describe briefly.

2) What is one logical possibility that we can deduce from the fact that we ourselves will one day gain the ability to send out countless clones of ourselves to help other people?

3) What is it that allows us to change the physical elements of our body into those of an perfected Angel?

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4) Give a traditional list of the eight low-level powers which we can use to help others in a limited way, and which come from using the combined effort.

NOTES:

5) The eight worldly powers transform into divine powers once we ourselves reach a higher level of spiritual evolution. Name and describe briefly these eight divine powers.

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6) Master Patañjali says that we “will master the main thing, the messenger of the mind.” Why does he call the mind “the main thing”?

Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, mentally reviewing the four different “bodies” that you will inhabit when you become the Angel: picturing what it will be like when you become her. Meditation dates and times (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):

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Quiz, Class Nine 1) When we do finally succeed in bringing the inner winds to stay and dissolve in the central channel, we become the angel of a billion worlds. This angel has four forms, or bodies; name them in English and in Sanskrit, and describe briefly.

NOTES:

2) What is one logical possibility that we can deduce from the fact that we ourselves will one day gain the ability to send out countless clones of ourselves to help other people?

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PART TEN

Respecting Our Destiny

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Reading Ten III.51 Sthānyupanimantraṇe saṅgasmayākaraṇaṁ punaraniṣṭaprasaṅgāt And there will come a time when they invite you to take your place with them. You must become a source of pride for your family, or you’ll again fall victim to all you sought to avoid. sthanyupanimantrane sanga smaya-akaranam punah anishta prasangat

Keywords: 1) upanimantrana

drun du nyerwa

2) sanga tsok 3) smaya dzum 4) akara jungkung 5) prasanga telngyur

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III.52 Kṣaṇatatkramayoḥ saṁyamādvivekajaṁ jñānam If you turn the combined effort upon the two stages of this moment, then you gain the knowledge which comes from not discriminating. kshana tat kramayoh sanyamad avivekajam jnyanam

Keywords: 1) viveka namje

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III.53 Jātilakṣaṇadeśairanyatānavacchedāttulyayostataḥ pratipattiḥ You then attain the ability to be in the two equally, unrestricted by anything: by birth, or type, or place. jati lakskana deshair anyatanavachedat tulyayos tatah pratipattih

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III.54 Tārakaṁ sarvaviṣayaṁ sarvathāviṣayamakramaṁ ceti vivekajaṁ jñānam You attain the knowledge which comes from discriminating; the one that frees you, where we are able to see all things and the way all things are, without having to alternate between the two. tarakam sarva vishayam sarvatha vishayam akramam cheti vivekajam jnyanam

Keywords: 1) taraka drolje 2) vishaya yul 3) sarva nampa kun 4) sarvatha nampa kuntu

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III.55 Sattvapuruṣayoḥ śuddhisāmye kaivalyamiti When the person and the reality around them are equally pure, this is total purity. sattva purushayoh shuddhi samye kaivalyam

Keywords: 1) shuddhi dakpa

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Commentary Ten Respecting Our Destiny III.51 And there will come a time when they invite you to take your place with them. You must become a source of pride for your family, or you’ll again fall victim to all you sought to avoid. Sthanyupanimantrane sanga smaya-akaranam punah anishta prasangat.

The minute you first picked up this book, you attracted the attention of some very important people: everyone who has studied the book in the last two thousand years, and understood it, and practiced it, and become the Angel. Simply by thinking the ideas we’ve read about so far, you have become part of a certain family of people. People who are very concerned about the pain of the world. People who have the spark of high understanding somewhere within them. Who believe that, somehow, there must be a key to stopping death and unhappiness altogether. We said that we had to understand understanding itself; that it too is coming from seeds. And the only seeds it can come from are planted by wanting to be the one who rescues all the rest of us. As your powers grow, and you evolve, your own physical and emotional pain will of course begin to disappear. There’s a point at which you may get trapped, thinking to stop at that. But then, you see, these important people will show themselves to you, and invite you into the higher family, which acts only for the happiness of the entire family—of living kind.

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NOTES:

The Final Moments

III.52-53 If you turn the combined effort upon the two stages of this moment, then you gain the knowledge which comes from not discriminating. You then attain the ability to be in the two equally, unrestricted by anything: by birth, or type, or place. Kshana tat kramayoh sanyamad avivekajam jnyanam. Jati lakskana deshair anyatanavachedat tulyayos tatah pratipattih.

There are three crucial moments at the end, when we gain all four bodies. The first is the last moment in which we are still not the Angel: we are in what is called “the wisdom of the final instant.” To get here we have seen the ultimate directly, on the Path of Seeing, briefly. And then we have worked our way up through seven levels, using what we saw, and discriminating—in the sense of staying aware that even now the way things look to us is not the way they really are. During three more levels we no longer need to discriminate this way: we no longer have the seeds for things to even appear to us in the wrong way. This brings us to that final moment; we cross over; and in the next moment we have this new knowledge—the power to know all things—born from the last three levels. For one split second, we sit in but one exquisite body, in paradise. And then, because of the prayer we have made for countless lifetimes—to serve others—we without a single thought appear on all worlds, Angelic.

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All Things in All Ways III.54-55 You attain the knowledge which comes from discriminating; the one that frees you, where we are able to see all things and the way all things are, without having to alternate between the two. When the person and the reality around them are equally pure, this is total purity. Tarakam sarva vishayam sarvatha vishayam akramam cheti vivekajam jnyanam. Sattva purushayoh shuddhi samye kaivalyam.

Before we reach the final goal, it is completely impossible to be in an experience of ultimate reality and still be experiencing the normal, deceptive reality around us now. And for us to experience ultimate reality, we must be in a state of deep meditation. And so we cannot help anyone if we are not practicing how to meditate ourselves, every day. In a sense all things come from this basic ability to discriminate between the way we always thought things were happening, and the way we realize they are really happening. Even at very high levels then we can only alternate between seeing ultimate reality during deep meditation, and being in deceptive reality at other times. This changes when we reach the bodies of the Angel: then, and only then, we can see all things, and all creatures in the world, and love them completely, serve them, and in the same moment see their higher reality, absolute emptiness. This very knowledge and love plants pure seeds that sustain it into the next moment, at which time its very existence again plants the seeds for it to be there in the following moment, on through eternity, total purity.

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Practice Ten

Homework, Part Ten 1) Master Patañjali says that “there will come a time when they invite you to take your place with them.” Who is “they” that he is speaking of? Why is there a mention of some kind of danger at this point?

2) Describe the idea of a “higher family,” also giving the two Sanskrit words for those who belong to this family.

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Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, imagining going through the last three seconds into a state of final perfection. Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted)

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Quiz, Part Ten 1) Describe the idea of a “higher family,” also giving the two Sanskrit words for those who belong to this family.

NOTES:

2) Briefly describe the last three milliseconds in our journey to become the angel of a billion worlds. Be sure to speak about the idea of “not discriminating,” also giving the Sanskrit word for “discriminating” here, along with some related English words.

3) When we reach the final goal, we are finally able to perceive—at the same moment—both of the realities which together constitute the entire universe. Describe these two briefly, including the words that the Master uses for them in the final lines of the third chapter, giving the Sanskrit and related words as well.

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Chapter 3

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Yoga Sutra Chapter 3 The Chapter on Practice Final Examination 1) Say a little bit about the logic behind the order of the first five parts of the yogic path: how does each one set you up for the next?

2) Explain the vital role that the last two of the eight limbs play in the direct perception of emptiness, or ultimate reality. Explain why it’s important to see emptiness directly.

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3) Master Patanjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own. But is that true? Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning?

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5) It is often claimed by people who talk about the Yoga Sutra that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity. How does this relate to the two different kinds of “stopping,” or cessation?

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11) Explain what the word chakra literally means; mention some related English words; and then relate this name to the structure of the inner channels.

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13) Explain the idea of working at a crucial point (ne du nunpa in the Tibetan), in order to turn a chakra from a chokepoint into a center of radiance and high spiritual realizations. Include the analogy of a tree.

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15) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely?

NOTES: 16) Is it easier to overcome the misunderstanding of “my world” that runs through the sun channel, or the misunderstanding of “me” that runs through the moon channel?

17) Describe the function of the “life” wind, clarifying some confusion that might come up about its Sanskrit name. List finally some related English words.

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18) Explain the role that two of the primary winds play in the idea of hatha yoga.

19) Explain the “three skies,” clarifying what the last one might enable us to hear sounds even light-years away, or to fly even to other worlds.

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21) What is one logical possibility that we can deduce from the fact that we ourselves will one day gain the ability to send out countless clones of ourselves to help other people?

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22) Describe the idea of a “higher family,” also giving the two Sanskrit words for those who belong to this family.

23) Briefly describe the last three milliseconds in our journey to become the angel of a billion worlds. Be sure to speak about the idea of “not discriminating,” also giving the Sanskrit word for “discriminating” here, along with some related English words.

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24) When we reach the final goal, we are finally able to perceive—at the same moment—both of the realities which together constitute the entire universe. Describe these two briefly, including the words that the Master uses for them in the final lines of the third chapter, giving the Sanskrit and related words as well.

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Yoga Sutra Chapter 3 The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class One: Focus and Stay 1) Give the name of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra (in English and in Sanskrit); then explain its position within the other three chapters. The third chapter of the Yoga Sutra is called “The Chapter on Practice.” The Sanskrit for this is Vibhuti Pada. Here vibhuti corresponds to the Tibetan jorwa, meaning to apply oneself to a spiritual practice. It can also mean application, and in the third chapter we learn practical applications of the various limbs of the yogic path. The word pada refers to a leg or a section of a book. The four chapters function like the four legs of a table, or the four cornerstones of the foundation of a house. Over the course of the four chapters of the Sutra, we pass three times through a description of the path to perfection. The first chapter, or cornerstone, of the Sutra is “The Chapter on Meditation.” It presents the path to total purity through the five paths or stages of spiritual evolution which all of us will go through. Advancement from one path to the next can only be accomplished in deep meditation; thus the name of the chapter. The second chapter is “The Chapter on the Way.” Here we begin some very practical yoga methods to attain the meditation of the first chapter, as well as the wisdom which rides upon it. Thus the first two chapters together then reflect yoga as a union of inner, mental methods and outer, physical methods or activities.

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The third chapter is a continuation of the famed ashtanga, or eight parts of the yogic path, which began in the second chapter. It concentrates on the three “inner” parts. Thus the second and third chapters considered together are again a complete presentation of the path to total purity.

NOTES:

The fourth chapter, called “The Chapter on Total Purity,” again presents the path to perfection, but from the viewpoint of specific details of the mental processes involved in reaching this state.

2) Name some of the important ideas that we will cover in the third chapter. We will cover the last three of the eight limbs of yoga. Then we will discuss the many spiritual levels which can be achieved by using the three of these teamed together. We’ll learn about the role of karmic seeds in meditation, and how reality itself works. We will see how it’s actually true that we can learn to do miracles, such as speaking in tongues and reading other people’s minds. We are introduced as well to the inner channels, chakras, and winds. Finally, the different bodies or forms of an perfected being are treated. 3) The opening lines of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra are a continuation of the famed ashtanga: eight parts or limbs of the yogic path. By way of review, name and describe very briefly the first five limbs of this path, which we covered in Chapter Two. Include the Sanskrit for each of the five. The first five of the eight limbs of yoga are: (1) Self-control, or yama. Five are mentioned in the Sutra: avoiding harm to anyone, always telling the truth, never stealing from another, keeping sexual purity, and overcoming possessiveness. (2) Commitments, or niyama. The five mentioned in the Sutra are to be clean; to be contented with whatever we have; to embrace hardships for higher goals; to engage in regular study; and to seek our Master’s blessings. (3) The physical poses, or asana. Originally intended either as meditation pos-

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es or as exercises to enable one to stay still in deep meditation for long periods of time; working on the channels from the outside. (4) Control of the breath, or pranayama. Breathing exercises which take advantage of the connection between the breath and the inner winds, or prana, in order to affect the inner channels and the thoughts which flow through them. (5) Withdrawal of the senses, or pratyahara. Learning to simplify our lives and our homes, in order to increase our ability to concentrate on objects of high spiritual importance.

4) Say a little bit about the logic behind the order of the first five parts of the yogic path: how does each one set you up for the next? The different forms of self-control prevent us from creating karmic obstacles to our practice. Once we are clean of these obstacles, we can go ahead and create new and powerful good karma with the various commitments. If we have this good karma, then we’ll be able to succeed at our physical yoga exercises. These exercises increase our strength and flexibility, giving us the physical means of controlling the breath, as well as setting up the channels for the effects of breath practice. Once we have mastered these two gross, outer, and easily measurable physical practices, we are ready to begin the deeper, inside practices. To do this, we must first learn to withdraw the mind from the objects of the five physical senses, in order to concentrate the sixth sense of the mind.

5) In the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra, we meet the last three of the eight parts or limbs of the yogic path. Name the first one of these, in both English and Sanskrit. Also explain the Sanskrit name, give some related English words, and then describe the limb briefly. The first of the last three limbs is focus, or dharana. It is defined as “locking the mind on an object” during meditation. This word comes from the Sanskrit root dhir, which means to hold. We see this root in the Sanskrit word dharma, which means spiritual path and also a thing, meaning anything which holds its own

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essence. It is also found in the English words farm and firm (both from a Latin word meaning firm or held strongly); as well as tree (something planted firmly in the ground) and true (firm as a tree).

NOTES:

6) Now name the seventh of the eight limbs; give its Sanskrit name; related English words; and describe the limb briefly. The seventh of the eight limbs is fixation, or dhyana. It is defined as staying on an object of meditation over a stretch of time. The Sanskrit name here comes from the root dhi, meaning to think. This is probably related to the English words think and feel.

7) Which of the limbs that come before these two is traditionally considered particularly important in developing them? In order to gain this perfect ability to focus and fix the mind on an object in meditation, we must have a clear conscience. We must be carefully following the yama, or different forms of self-control, perfectly avoiding harming any other living being.

8) Explain the vital role that the sixth and seventh of the eight limbs play in the direct perception of emptiness, or ultimate reality. Explain why it’s important to see emptiness directly. These two limbs together represent the ability to concentrate the mind absolutely, with no distraction. This ability is called shamatha, and is a necessary platform or stillness of mind from which we can then see emptiness directly; that is, we cannot reach this absolutely necessary point without mastery over mental stillness. Emptiness is such a powerful object that—once we see it directly—it quickly leads us to nirvana (the end of all negative thoughts) and to our final destiny of becoming an perfected Angel who can help all beings.

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Key, Class Two: The Clear Light 1) Name the eighth and final limb of the yogic path; give the Sanskrit word for it; some related English words; and then describe it briefly. The eighth and final limb of the yogic path is called “perfect meditation.” In Sanskrit this is samadhi smaix. This word is made of two parts: sama and dhi. Sama derives from an old root that can mean both one and as one, and so it came to mean equal, even, or the same. The English words same, similar, single, and homogenous come from the same root. Dhi comes from a root dha, meaning to place or put down (dhi here does not come from the root dhi, meaning to think, which is spelled differently). Related English words are data (information which is set down); to do; deed (especially in the sense of something set down in writing); and doom (ones fate, as something set down). Generally speaking, the two words together, sama+dhi, has a meaning of setting the mind into an equal meditation, in the sense that the mind is balanced and avoids the two extremes of distraction and dullness. Here as the eighth limb though, samadhi means the perfect meditation which can perceive the true nature of things.

2) In the third verse of this third chapter, Master Patanjali describes the object of perfect meditation, which is “the clear light.” First give the Tibetan and Sanskrit words for “clear light.” Then explain the Sanskrit word and give some related English words. The Tibetan word for clear light is u-sel; the u means light or light rays, and the sel means clear. The Sanskrit word for clear light here is nirbhasa. This word is made up of the two parts nir and bhasa.

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Nir is a form of the prefix nis, which means out or forth. Bhasa comes from the root bha, which means to shine. The combination then means literally that which shines forth. Related English words are photo and beacon.

NOTES:

3) Master Patanjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own. But is that true? Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning? Fire does have a nature of being hot and burning, but it’s not true that this nature belongs to it. That is, the quality of being hot does not reside within a fire. Rather, we perceive this quality within a fire only because of our own mental seeds, which come from our own past karma. With different mental seeds it would be possible for us to experience fire as cool, and to be able to pick it up in our hands.

4) In this section, Master Patanjali refers to the idea of voidness, or emptiness. Describe the voidness of a maple-covered donut, and how this relates to the purpose of all yoga: to become whole, or happy. Along the way, explain the Sanskrit word for voidness and give some related English words. We use the maple-covered donut as an example of something that we like very much, something which is difficult for us to share with others (especially if it’s the last one in the case at the pastry shop). We normally believe that a donut which we see in a shop has been made or created in the kitchen at the shop, and that whether we can get it or not only depends upon our having enough money to do so. In reality though the donut is void or empty of any such existence. It exists in the case at the shop only because we have given a donut to someone in the past. We perceive it only because of seeds of perception planted within our own mind when we shared a donut with someone. Obviously then the words voidness and emptiness do not at all mean that there is no donut there, or that in some way it is less than real.

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The Sanskrit word for voidness or emptiness here is shunyata , or tongpa-nyi in Tibetan. The word shunyata contains two parts, shunya and ta. The ta is a suffix that means the condition of something, and is related to the English suffix tion as found in creation or situation. Shunya comes from the root shu, which means to swell, in the way that a bubble swells with an empty middle. Related English words, where the typical change of a Sanskrit s to an English c is observed, are cave (an empty space); cumulus (swelling clouds); and even church (which originally meant swollen with power).

5) Explain the three, and the two, different parts that make up what Master Patanjali calls “the eye of wisdom.” The three parts that make up the “eye of wisdom” are the last three of the eight limbs of the yogic path: focus, fixation, and perfect meditation. The ability to focus upon an object of meditation and then fix the mind upon it one-pointedly, over a period of time, is what we call meditative stillness, or shamatha zmw in Sanskrit. The ability to use this stillness to focus upon the absolute nature of things is called the extraordinary vision, or vipashyana. (This word is sometimes used incorrectly to describe a meditation focused on the breath, or ones thoughts.) These two then must be combined in order to see ultimately reality directly.

6) What phrase will Master Patanjali continue to use throughout the third chapter, to refer to the conjoined power of the last three of the eight limbs of yoga? (Include the Sanskrit, explaining the name and giving related English words.) The combination of focus, fixation, and perfect meditation will be referred to throughout the rest of the third chapter as “the combined effort.” These are equivalent to the classic combination of meditative stillness and the extraordinary vision of emptiness, used together to perceive ultimate reality.

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The Sanskrit for this unbeatable combination is sanyama. This word is made of the two parts sam and yama. Sam means together and is found in the English prefix com, as in the words committee and combination.

NOTES: Yama has connotations of both a combination and an effort. It comes from

the roots yat, meaning to stretch, and yam, meaning to reach. The word yama came to refer to the reins of a horse, something to be reached for, and then this came to the meaning of making an effort. The two reins of the horse came in turn to refer to any kind of pair. The Lord of Death, who is one of two famous twins, thus came to be called Yama. Jealousy as a strong desire to reach and obtain something is an English word that comes from the same root as yama. The English word Gemini is another related word, in the sense of a pair, or twins. The combination of sam+yama then refers to making a combined effort: to use meditative stillness combined with an understanding of ultimate reality, in order to see emptiness directly. This ability enables us to open a great many other doors, as we will see throughout the third chapter.

7) In what sense are the last three of the eight limbs of yoga “inner,” and in what sense are they “outer”? The first five of the eight limbs of yoga are more external or physical actions: restraining ourselves from hurting others; doing the physical poses; practicing breath control. The last three limbs are completely mental, and subtle. In this sense the last three limbs are more “inner” than the first five. The final goal of all eight limbs is to reach total purity, or total purity. Even the last three limbs of the yogic path, until we reach this final goal, are mixed up with “impure” karmic seeds, which wear out as they produce their positive or negative results. In this sense then the last three limbs of yoga, during the period before we reach total purity, are “outside” or lesser than they will be when we do reach the goal.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Three: The End of Thoughts? 1) Explain briefly the two types of a “stopping meditation.” What do they stop? There is one kind of deep meditation where we go into a nearly unconscious state, and then awaken hours or even days later. It feels as if the mind itself has stopped during this period, but actually only the gross, surface level of thought has stopped. This type of meditation is actually considered something of an obstacle by true meditators, since there is no significant content of the meditation, and it only wastes the time of one’s precious life. The second kind of “stopping” meditation is the direct perception of emptiness. During this time, one stops the state of mind which misunderstands how all objects are actually projections of our own mind. This is the one and only thing in the world which can actually accomplish the process of stopping all our negative thoughts, obstacles, and pain.

2) Explain the most common meaning of the word “stopping” in a “stopping meditation.” This stopping is sometimes called a “cessation.” Give also the Sanskrit for this important term, and related English words. The most common meaning of the word “stopping” or “cessation” is the idea of putting a permanent stop to a spiritual obstacle or mental affliction. For example, the first time that we see emptiness directly we permanently stop a number of negative attitudes, such as doubt about the spiritual path and an intellectual belief that things could exist from their own side.

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The Sanskrit word for this type of stopping or cessation is nirodha. This word is composed of two parts, ni and rodha. The prefix ni here means down, and thus not. It is found in the English words beneath and netherworld.

NOTES: Rodha comes from the root rudh. It’s good to be aware that this root can have two opposite meanings: to grow and to obstruct. The point here is that something will not grow. Related English words are root, radish, radical, rhizome, and licorice.

3) It is often claimed by people who talk about the Yoga Sutra that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity. How does this relate to the two different kinds of “stopping,” or cessation? The claim that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity is a common misinterpretation of the opening lines which say, “Yoga is stopping how the mind turns.” Throughout the centuries, as people have practiced meditation, there are many who have mistaken the temporary pleasant sensation of stopping gross thoughts as a spiritual goal. This is the first kind of cessation, the unimportant one really. The second type of cessation is the important one: where we stop our misperception of things, in order to stop our negative thoughts and thus all the pain that we and others ever experience.

4) Explain the idea of “transformation” at this point in the Yoga Sutra, explaining for example how a stopping or cessation might be transformed. Then give the Sanskrit word for “transformation,” along with some related English words. A transformation in the sense that it’s meant in the Yoga Sutra at this point means that we turn the combined effort of stillness (shamatha) and wisdom (vipashyana) upon an object and thus transform it. For example, we may be getting pretty good in our meditation, and reaching a point where the mind seems to stop for an extended period of time. If we then turn understanding upon this stopping, we come to see that it is a product of seeds within our minds. This can put us on the path of transforming this temporary stopping into something more meaningful and permanent: stopping the mental afflictions forever.

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The Sanskrit word for transformation here is parinama. This word has two parts, pari and nama. The prefix pari means around, and is found in the English words perimeter and periscope. Nama comes from the verbal root nam, meaning to bend or to bow, in the sense of turning down. Here then the two parts together mean to turn something around into something else, or to transform something. We see the root nam in the common Sanskrit greeting namaste, which means I bow to you, as well as in the name of the well-known yoga asana, surya namaskara, which literally means making a bow to the sun. Tradition says that the Sanskrit word nama, which means name and is directly related to that English word, is related to the idea of bowing down or honoring another person—honoring their name.

5) In this section of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra, we talk about three transformations: about how we grasp that three different, very important things are actually projections brought on by the karmic seeds in our own minds. Name the three transformations, and name the three important things that are involved with each one of them, respectively. The “transformation of the stopping” means that we understand that how long we can stop gross thought processes or wrong perceptions of the world in meditation depends upon karmic seeds. The “transformation of meditation” means that we understand that our single-pointed stillness also depends upon karmic seeds. The “transformation of single-pointedness” means that we understand that our single-pointed awareness of the true nature of things, our wisdom, also depends upon karmic seeds.

6) What is it that allows us to remain “in” a state of meditation? Include the Sanskrit word here, and related English words. An important concept introduced in the Yoga Sutra at this point in the third chapter is the fact that, as with everything else in our world, it is mental seeds

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which create a meditative state and allow us to remain in this state. As long as the seeds for coming out of the meditation are suppressed, we will stay in; when the seeds for coming out grow or manifest themselves, then we must come out.

NOTES:

The word for mental seeds here in the Sanskrit is sanskara. This word is made of two parts, sam and kara (due to the rules that govern how words join together, the letter s is inserted between these two pieces; as it does in the word Sanskrit itself). Sam means together; when this root enters English, the common change of a Sanskrit s into an English c occurs, and we see it in the words committee and combination. Kara here means to make or create, and so together with sam means to bring things together, or create things. Kara comes from the Sanskrit root kir, which is found in the words karma, create, and cereal.

7) Why is it that our first direct perception of ultimate reality lasts for so short a time? How do we then increase this time, and how do we know how to increase it? The direct perception of ultimate reality is the ultimate goal of all spiritual practice, since this is the only object in the world which has the power to permanently remove our own and all other beings’ suffering. Because it is such a powerful object, seeds of tremendous power are required to maintain it. At the beginning, we simply don’t possess sufficient seeds to maintain the vision of emptiness. When we do see emptiness directly, we by definition grasp the fact that all the objects in our life are a projection of our own minds forced upon us by our past deeds. As such we clearly grasp that the direct perception of emptiness is itself a projection forced upon us by our past seeds.

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We naturally then understand that, if we wish to maintain the direct vision of emptiness for longer periods of time, we need to collect more pure karmic seeds of the type which cause deep meditation. And these, according to the great Tibetan masters such as Je Tsongkapa, are nothing other than the seeds planted when we take care of other people. Thus we return to the foundation practices of the yogic path: the different forms of self-control, and the commitments.

8) Having discussed what makes a state of meditation start or stop, Master Patanjali goes on to describe what makes things in general start or stop. He makes the surprising statement that all things within us and outside of us follow after one single quality: the fact that “their starting and their stopping cannot be pointed to.” Explain what this means with perceiving the word word right here on this page. Then explain how this helps us grasp how things are really coming from us. In order to read the word word, we must first read the letter w. Reading the word word happens so fast that we don’t really notice this fact, but if we think about it for a moment we know it must be true: our eye moves across the page from left to right, and “bumps into” the w before the other letters. In order to see the whole letter w though, we must by necessity see the first of the three lines that makes up this letter. To see this first line though, we must first see the top of it and the bottom of it. To see the top of it though, we must first see the top of the top and the bottom of the top, and so on—ad infinitum. We obviously don’t have time to do all this in the time it actually takes us to read the word word; and even if we did have the time, it’s obvious if we think about it that there must be a point where our eyes aren’t sensitive enough to see the two parts of a line that make up the smallest part of the line we can see. The simple fact is that we can’t be seeing things the way we always thought we did. In actual fact, the way that we see the whole word word on this very page is only because our own mind is projecting it down on the page, gluing together indications of black and white into a comprehensible whole. And this is how we

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see every other single thing in our entire world: it is all coming from us, from seeds we planted when we took care of others, or ignored their needs.

NOTES: 9) Give the Sanskrit word for “cannot be pointed to,” listing related English words as well. The Sanskrit word in the Yoga Sutra for “cannot be pointed to” is avyapadeshya. This word is made up of four parts: a, vi, apa, and deshya. The initial letter a here is the negative in Sanskrit. It’s the cannot in the expression cannot be pointed to. The prefix vi means apart or away. This prefix appears in all the English words that mean two, which means split or divided into two: duo, two, dipole, bipolar, and bicycle. The prefix apa means away, or off. The word off itself comes from this root. Deshya means to be pointed to. It comes from the root dish, which means to point, and can also be found as diksh. The word desha, which means a direction in which you point, came to mean country, and is found in words like Bangladesh: Land of the Bengalis. The English word digit comes from this, meaning a finger with which we point, or digital, something counted with our fingers. From this pointing motion too came the idea of dictate and dictator. All the pieces of the word together mean something you cannot point off in some direction to.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Four: The Power to Save the World 1) We’ve talked already about how impossible it is for us to read the word word, beginning with the “first” piece of it and working our way from left to right. We see that it’s impossible for us to be “reading” it, and so we get a glimpse into how—in reality—we must be “dropping” the word down on the page ourselves. Explain how this applies then to time itself. If we think about it carefully, we can see that it’s just as impossible for us to experience a moment in time as it is for us to read the word word from left to right. That is, in order for us to experience a single moment in time, we must approach the very beginning of that moment, experience it, and then move on to the middle and to the end of the moment, in sequence. But by logic then too we must first experience the first part of the beginning of the moment, and then the middle of the beginning of the moment, and so on into infinity. And by definition we must reach a piece of time which is the shortest we can perceive, but which to perceive we must have perceived some shorter piece of. Which is all to say that we can’t be experiencing time the way that we think we are. We must actually be projecting time from our own minds. Which means that we could be perceiving time in “different” chunks, if we had the seeds to. Which further means that we have the ability to perceive, directly, the past and the future: including our past and future lives.

2) We’ve seen how we impose tiny pictures on both pieces of objects and mo-

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ments of time to create the impression of things and time. Now relate this idea to words and languages. These little pictures are what “words” actually are; and the sounds of words we paste together with the pictures as well. We learn language only because we mentally create or impose words which we have heard over and over again for time with no beginning. Once we become aware of how we are creating words, by using word-pictures, then we quickly reach a point of good karma where we understand all the languages of the world, and can teach others in them.

NOTES:

3) Give the Sanskrit words that Master Patanjali uses here for terms and objects. Then speak a bit about the “mix-up” or confusion here: speak about whether terms or the objects to which they refer come first. The Sanskrit word for term or word here is shabda. This is related to the root vad, which means to speak. The noun vak, or voice, comes from this root, and from it come the English words voice, invoke, and epic. The word for object here is artha. This comes from the root ir , meaning to go or to send, in the sense of the object for which we go somewhere. Words derived from this root have the meaning of to go beyond, or to surpass. An example in Sanskrit would be the word arya which in modern times has taken on an inappropriate sense of racial superiority, but originally in spiritual terms referred to a person who had gone beyond normal people because they had seen emptiness directly. The English word aristocrat is related, with a similar sense. The mix-up or confusion here is that we mistake words for actual objects. In this sense, a “word” is not the sound or name that we use to represent an object, but rather the tiny mental picture or projection in our minds that we mistake for the actual object. We normally think that outside objects exist first, out there, and then later we give them a name. But in reality the name comes first (“In the beginning was the word”), the tiny mental image born of our karmic seeds. We then mistake this for an actual outside object.

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4) At some point in our spiritual evolution—and especially in the hours following our first direct perception of emptiness—we gain the ability to read the minds of other people. Are we then sharing their mental seeds? Give a proof for your answer. It is not the case that we can share the karma or mental seeds of others. When we read other people’s minds, it is a result of the seeds that are already within our own mind. If it were possible to share karma—if it were possible for one person to give away their karmic seeds to another person—then we simply wouldn’t be here in the broken desire realm, experiencing the pain of this life. Beings of the path who had perfected their compassion before us would have gladly given us all their good karmic seeds, and we wouldn’t remain in suffering.

5) As we go through the miraculous powers that we can gain through the combined effort of stillness and the vision of emptiness, we will see a common theme: these powers can be used for lower, worldly purposes; or they can be used for higher, ultimate purposes of helping others. Discuss the higher uses of learning the true nature of time, language, and reading other people’s minds. If we can see other people’s past and future lives, then we can more effectively address their particular needs and mental seeds. If we unlock the secrets of language, we can learn to speak to all people in their own language, using it in exactly the way that they can best understand. If we can read other people’s minds, then we can see directly what they do and do not understand, and explain the path to total purity to them easily.

6) Master Patanjali, here in the third chapter, describes the power of invisibility. Do we need to understand a power like this in order to get it? Some people, due to the power of the karmic seeds that they have planted in their previous lives, can experience miraculous powers for a relatively brief period of time, without understanding where these powers actually come from. Also, people who meditate for long periods of time, even if the meditation is

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faulty and focused on no meaningful object, sometimes obtain temporary powers of this kind. The reason for this is that—simply by being in meditation— they are avoiding the constant, low-level negative thoughts and deeds that block most people from these powers.

NOTES:

These kinds of person though cannot maintain the power, since they fail to grasp its source, and therefore do not understand the good deeds that must be done to keep up the perception of the power. A person who gains a power due to the combined effort of meditative stillness and the extraordinary vision of emptiness will be able to maintain and increase the power indefinitely, up to total purity.

7) What is it that allows a karmic seed to remain viable and potent as it sits within our mind? The very act of misunderstanding karmic seeds, of misunderstanding how they cause our world, is what allows these seeds to remain viable and potent. When we turn the combined effort of stillness and the vision of emptiness upon them, then their power is destroyed.

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There is an illusion that things are otherwise. Perhaps we have a mother-inlaw who doesn’t like us so much, and so we buy her a new shower mat to show our hope for friendship. That night she slips on the mat and hurts herself, and she becomes angry with us. Having someone be angry with us today though has nothing to do with the act of showing friendship to someone. This act can only bring us good results in the future. The anger came from some kind of anger that we showed to a person in the past. The Sanskrit word for the final outcome of a karma is aparanta. This word has three parts, a and para and anta. A is the Sanskrit negative and is found in the English words apathetic and apolitical. Para means other or something beyond. We see a form of it in the famous Sanskrit word paramita, which means gone to the other side, or perfection, as in the six perfections. In English it’s found in words perfect and paramount. The combination of a and para here can be read as having nothing beyond it, or final; although apara can also simply mean something that comes later on. Anta means the end, or here the end result of a karma or action. It is found in the English words end and antique.

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The Yoga Studies Institute NOTES: Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Five: The True Source of Power 1) A good part of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra is devoted to both worldly and divine forms of power. Master Patanjali is sure to identify the true source of all these powers. Name this source, then list and briefly describe all of its different parts, along with the Sanskrit name for each of the parts. Master Patanjali says that “The powers are to be found in love and the rest.” He is referring here to the some of the highest karmic seeds that we can collect: the four infinite thoughts that were introduced in the first chapter. These are kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Infinite kindness (maitri in the Sanskrit) is the desire to bring all living beings happiness. Infinite compassion (karuna) is the desire that every other being be free of all forms of pain. Infinite joy (mudita) is the decision to bring all living beings to the highest forms of happiness: to the freedom from all negative thoughts (nirvana) and to the state of an perfected angel who can help all beings. Infinite equanimity (upeksha) is the decision to help everybody this way— not just our friends or family. The karma of thinking these thoughts is the source of all worldly and perfected power because of two factors. We are wishing for the highest of all things, and we are wishing them upon an infinite number of living beings. The karma can thus create an perfected paradise which never ends.

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2) Name three of the powers of the War-Elephant; explain what a War-Elephant is doing in the Yoga Sutra; and give the Sanskrit for War-Elephant, along with related English words. The expression “War-Elephant” here refers to an perfected being: someone of extraordinary power. This is a reference to the elephants which were used in battle by the kings of India—their most powerful weapon, something that could simply crush and entire battalion of enemy foot soldiers, in the way a tank could do the same to a man on foot nowadays. Three of the powers of an perfected being here would be ultimate compassion; a knowledge of all things; and the ability to show ourselves anywhere in the universe, any time, to help others. The Sanskrit word for War-Elephant here is hastin. This word is composed of two parts, hasta and in. The in means to possess, and hasta means a hand. Together they mean someone who has a hand, or someone who is skilled with their hands, and this refers to the dexterity of the trunk of an elephant, the trunk which they reach forward like an arm. The ancient Indo-European root for hasta is ghes. This root is found as ger in the word surgery. A variation is the Sanskrit root ghir, which means to hold. Related English words are grab and grasp.

3) Master Patanjali says that “If you turn the combined effort upon the sun, you will understand the earth.” Explain briefly what the word “sun” here refers to, giving the relevant Sanskrit word; its ancient Indo-European root; and some related English words. The word “sun” here refers to the channel of the sun: the inner channel which runs down the side of our spine, to our right of it. The Sanskrit word for “sun” here is surya, which comes from an old Indo-European root sahwel. English words from this same root are sun, solar, and helium.

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4) Remind us what the “combined effort” is, and what it would mean to “turn this effort upon the sun.”

NOTES:

The “combined effort” here is the combination of the last three limbs of the yogic path: meditative focus, fixation, and then “perfect” meditation—which refers to understanding the emptiness of the object of meditation. Turning this effort upon the channel of the sun would refer to understanding it perfectly: understanding how it is actually a projection of the karmic seeds within our own minds. This in itself would cause a change in the flow of thought-winds within this very channel, preparing us for the direct perception of emptiness and the transformation of the body into light. If by the way we were also maintaining a regular practice of yoga asanas, this outside work would facilitate the task of improving the kinds of thought-winds running through the channel of the sun.

5) Describe the location and physical appearance of the channel of the sun; relate this to its most common Sanskrit name in later classical yoga texts; and give a related English word. The channel of the sun runs down close to the spine, to our right of it, stretching from the side of our nostril under the skull up to the tip of the head, and then curving back down until it reaches the tip of the sexual organ. The color of the channel of the sun is said to be an opaque or “flat,” dark red color, since a preponderance of the “red element” passes through it. This element has a gross physical counterpart, the menstrual blood. The Sanskrit name used most often in the later classical yoga texts for the channel of the sun is pingala ip<gl, which literally means a rusty, reddish color. A related English word is pink.

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6) Why do the Tibetans refer to the channels of the sun and the moon as trishing, or “ivy”? At a number of points, the channels of the sun and moon twist like shoots of ivy around the central channel: between the eyebrows; at the tip of the head; at the tip of the spine at the lower neck; at the spine behind the heart; at the spine behind the navel; at the lower spine, and perineum, and the sexual organ. The twist at the heart is a triple twist. The locations of these twists are also the locations of the chakras, which we’ll talk more about in a later class.

7) Explain how the channel of the sun relates to the word hatha, and to the idea of hatha yoga. The Sanskrit word hatha comes from two parts, ha and tha. The word ha here refers to the sun (note the h in the old Indo-European root we had before). Tha refers to a disk or planet shape, but more specifically to the moon. The “sun” here is the channel of the sun, and the “moon” the channel of the moon. When we talk about hatha yoga, we are referring to practices which join (the basic meaning of the word yoga) the channels of the sun and the moon, in the sense of drying up or squeezing out the prana which runs in them, bringing this energy into the central channel—which then triggers the body of light and the ability to serve all living beings at the same moment.

8) What are the emotions (not the view of the world; we’ll get to that later) which run upon the winds in the channel of the sun? Tied to the winds that flow in the sun channel travel our “hot” negative thoughts: anger, hatred, jealousy; all based on disliking objects, events, and people because we fail to understand how we ourselves have produced them.

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NOTES:

The place in the body where the three principal channels meet is compared to the Triveni, a place at Allahabad, India, where the three sacred rivers of the Yamuna, Ganges, and Sarasvati are said to flow together. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (III.51) says that the Yamuna River relates to the channel of the sun; the Ganges relates to the channel of the moon; and the Sarasvati, which is traditionally said to run underground, relates to the central channel. The goddess of the Yamuna River is by tradition said to be the daughter of the God of the Sun, Surya, and the twin sister of Yama, the Lord of Death. Bathing in the place where the three rivers convene is said to be a sacred act; to “bathe” in the event of the side channels collapsing into the central channel creates an Angel’s body of light. A major earthquake which occurred in Gujarat, India, on January 26, 2001, is thought to have raised the “missing” Sarasvati River. This could correctly be interpreted as a shifting of the central channel in every person who is interested in this event, because the same seeds create both the channels and the world around us. This is reflected in names of yoga practices, such as Uddiyana and Jalandhara Bandhas, where the name of a sacred place in the outer world is connected to a location within the body. The juncture of these three major pipes in the body is usually placed just below the navel chakra. It is through this point that the inner wind or prana moves out of the side channels and into the central channel. Here too is where the side channels will eventually melt down into the central. The Sanskrit word triveni has two parts, tri and veni. Tri means three, and is found in the Engish words three and tricycle. Veni means a braid of hair, from the more basic meaning of a coming or flowing together. Ultimate it derives from the Sanskrit root gam meaning to go, by way of an old Indo-European

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root gwa. From the gwa root comes wa and then ve, which appears in the English convention and venue (a place where people come together, as the three rivers flow together).

10) What does it mean to “understand the earth”? Another name for the channel of the sun is “the channel of what is held.” Our misunderstanding of the objects around us (as opposed to our misunderstanding of the subject states of mind that hold to these objects) runs through this channel. If we can still the winds of this channel, then we gain an understanding of the external world: the earth. 11) List three different areas of the onion skin from which we might bring about changes in the channel of the sun. On a purely physical level, we can facilitate a healthy flow of prana out of the channel of the sun by doing yoga asanas which stretch this channel out: something for example like the Western Stretch (Paschimotta) exercise, or seated forward bend. In fact, this particular asana is praised in the classic yoga text Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) as releasing the prana in the channels that run along the spine. A gentle seated spinal twist (matsyendra asana) to the left would have an especially beneficial effect on the channel of the sun, which again runs down the right. Gentle pranayama, in the form of exhaling and inhaling through alternate nostrils, would also clear this channel. Finally, we could simply work from the inside, by doing the practice of giving and taking, again using alternate nostrils.

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The Yoga Studies Institute NOTES: Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Six: The Channel of the Moon 1) Master Patanjali says that we must “turn the combined effort upon the moon.” What is the “moon” here? Also give the relevant Sanskrit word, and related English words. The “moon” in this case refers to the channel of the moon, one of the three primary inner channels of the body, running down our left side of the body. The Sanskrit word for “moon” here is chandra, which comes from a root cand , which is the same as the root shchand, meaning to shine. Related English words are scintillate, shine, and incense.

2) Describe then how a person might actually turn the combined effort upon this moon. We would use the last three of the eight limbs of the yogic path—focus, fixation, and wisdom—joined together. We would direct them towards the lefthand channel, thinking about how it is empty of coming from its own side; how its basic nature and current condition are both coming from the seeds within our own mind. We would then be in a condition to make it flow properly.

3) Describe the location and physical appearance of the channel of the moon. Give its most common Sanskrit name in the later classical texts on yoga, then give some related English words.

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The channel of the moon begins up the outside of the left nostril of the nose, continues to the tip of the head, and then descends down the left side of the spine to the groin, terminating at the tip of the penis or vagina. It is a dull, milky white color, due to the predominance of the element related to semen. The word most used for this channel in later classical yoga texts is ida, referring here to a milky beverage. Possibly related are the English udder and exuberant, which come from words indicating a breast or teat. Related to these are the English daughter (literally duhitir, the milkmaid of the family) and dugs (in the sense of teats), as well as female, “giver of milk,” from an Indo-European root dhei, meaning to suck milk.

4) What general types of emotions run through the channel of the moon? In this channel run our “cool” negative thoughts, such as desire or pride: liking things in the wrong way.

5) What does Master Patanjali mean when he says that we can come to “understand the arrangement of the stars”? Include the Sanskrit word for “star” here, and some related English words. Through the channel of the moon run the thoughts we have which misunderstand the nature of subjects (as opposed to objects): misunderstanding for example our own minds or ourselves—conscious things—as opposed to the things around us. Here the light of the stars in being compared to the sparks of consciousness within us, called bindu or “dots” of consciousness. If we turn our concentration and understanding upon these lights, we can come to understand their nature too: that even what we think is coming to us as seeds ripen in our minds from how we have treated people in the past. The Sanskrit word for star here is tara tara This comes from a root tir, meaning to pass or to turn. Related words are the Sanskrit Tara (the goddess who helps us pass beyond the suffering world); and the English turn, translate, and through.

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NOTES: The two side channels—the channels of the sun and moon—are directly re-

sponsible for our sense of duality, especially our tendency to think of “me” and “you” in a negative way. It’s not wrong to think of “me” and “you,” certainly they do exist, and the difference can actually provide a basis for reaching our final goal. As always though it’s important to focus the combined effort of stillness and wisdom upon this distinction: to realize that the difference between “me” and “you” is fluid, and artificial; not something which is absolute, but which is rather springing from seeds within our own minds. We can consciously affect this distinction, wrapping our sense of “me” around people outside of ourselves, thereby affecting the very source of karma itself. A typical type of duality would be just about any kind of decision-making which we ever engage in; for example, deciding how we will react to being threatened by terrorism. Our two side channels force us into thinking that we only have two choices in reacting to violence: we can either react passively (which sometimes seems to work, but sometimes also seems to cause others to take advantage of us, with more violence); or else we can react with violence (which also sometimes seems to work, but also sometimes backfires again with more violence). The reason that neither approach seems to work consistently is that we have been forced into a false sense of duality. We are approaching each choice as if it existed from its own side. To avoid this false duality, we use our combined effort to see that we can only affect events by planting the appropriate seeds for the future—by gardening—and not by attempting to manipulate current, self-existent objects.

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7) Master Patanjali says that “if we turn the combined effort upon the polestar, we can understand their workings.” What does “polestar” refer to here, and what is the “their” in “their workings”? Remember to give the Sanskrit word here for “polestar,” and some related English words. The “polestar” in this verse is the central channel. This is a reference to the one star (sometimes called the North Star in English) around which all the other stars seem to rotate during the course of the night. The idea is that there is an unmoving central core or axis running down from this star, in the same way that the central channel acts as the core of the inner body. Within this channel run all our good and pure thoughts—and especially all of our wisdom, all of our understanding where things actually come from. With this wisdom we can understand both the stars and the earth: the actual nature of both ourselves (“me”) and all the things and people (“you”) around us, the fact that we are all coming from seeds we have planted by taking care of others. The Sanskrit word for polestar here is dhruva. This comes from the root dhir, meaning to hold, and to be firm or firmly rooted. Related words are the Sanskrit dharma (ultimately meaning a thing, or something which holds its own nature); as well as the English truth (firm); tree (firmly planted); and druid (a truth-seer).

8) Describe the physical appearance and location of the central channel. Then give the primary name that is used for it in most of the later classical texts on yoga, the meaning of this name, and some related English words. The central channel is a translucent golden red (as opposed to the opaque red and white of the two side channels). It is also slightly larger in diameter than the side channels (about the width of a straw). It extends from the spot between the eyebrows up under the skull to the tip of the head, and then down along the inside of the spine to the groin, then up to the tip of the penis or vagina. The most common name for the central channel in later classical yoga texts is

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sushumna, or the sunray channel. This is a reference to the fact that sushumna can refer to the component in sunlight which illuminates and warms the moon: so that, in a sense, the central channel is contributing to the interaction and ultimate joining of the channels of the sun and the moon (ha-tha yoga). The word sushumna has three parts: su, and then again su, and then finally mna or manas. Su means good; it comes from an old Indo-European root esu, with the same meaning. Coming into Greek, the s drops out, and it becomes simply eu. This is the eu found in euphemism (a good way to say something), euthanasia (a supposedly good way to die), and eurhythmics (good beat).

NOTES:

Manas means mind, and is found in the English words mind, mental, and man (the thinking beast). Together, su and manas means benevolent, kind, or pleased. Adding the second su before this pair makes it even more strongly positive, emphasizing the goodness of the thoughts within the central channel. By the rules of Sanskrit letter combination, the second su changes the original su into shu. It’s interesting to note that the word hymn or sacred song is thought to derive from the same root as the mna in sushumna, the channel through which the sacred sound of Sanskrit passes.

9) Another Sanskrit name for the central channel is avadhuti, and in fact one of most famous yogis of our lineage went by the name of Avadhutipa. What does this name mean, and what would it have to do with a certain special planet? What second sense of the word led the Tibetans to translate it two different ways? The Sanskrit word avadhuti means to throw off something like an entanglement. Here it refers to the ultimate goal of releasing the central channel and its pure winds from the entanglement of the two side channels, along with their ignorance and negative emotions. Another name for the central channel is rahula, which means the dark planet. This refers to the belief that eclipses of the sun and moon were caused when these orbs were temporarily devoured by a dark planet. This all goes back to a

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legend which say that a demon named Rahu attempted to steal the nectar of immortality from the gods and was caught by the deities of the Sun and Moon. He consumed enough nectar to remain immortal and on occasion wreaks vengeance upon these deities by devouring them for some time. This is actually then an important reference to the fact that the central channel eventually devours the channels of the sun and moon: our misunderstanding of ourselves and our world collapses, and these two channels then collapse into the central channel, causing our transformation into an Angel of light. The Tibetans used two different phrases to translate the word avadhuti. One is kunpangma, which again means to shake off the strangling side channels. Another is kundarma, which means the channel of vibration or shaking. This is a reference to the power of the energy and sound of prana moving in the central channel, along with corresponding effects on the body.

10) Explain what the word chakra literally means; mention some related English words; and then relate this name to the structure of the inner channels. The word chakra literally means wheel. As our inner body first forms in the womb, the two side channels are already twisted around the central channel: we are already misunderstanding ourselves and our environment. Secondary channels break out from these chokepoints horizontally, spreading out like the spokes of a wheel. Looking down the central channel from the top of the head then, we see the shapes of wheels. The word chakra is an example of reduplication, or where a root is repeated to give the sense that its action is repeated or intensified. In this case the root is kir, meaning to do or create, and the original reduplication was something like kirkir, which evolved into chakra. The idea is that a wheel repeatedly performs its function, doing the same thing over and over again. Related English words are of course create, cereal (an important food which is grown), and crescent (a growing moon).

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11) Give the general Sanskrit name for “inner channel”; explain the root of the word (and what it has to do with channels); and give some related English words.

NOTES: The general Sanskrit word for “inner channel” is nadi, which literally means a

stream or river. This comes from a root nad, which means to make a sound. The idea is one of a stream making a tinkling or rushing sound. Some related English words are note (as in a musical note); sound; swan (the singer); and sonnet. This is all a reference to the fact that the sounds of the Mother Tongue, Sanskrit, are running through the channels since beginningless time. The external sounds and alphabet of this language have in fact been created based upon the inner sounds and shapes, which are the shapes of the channels, especially around the navel chakra.

12) Explain the role of the navel chakra in the formation of the inner channels, clarifying as well whether there is any actual connection between the channels of the sun and moon, and the sun and moon in the sky. There is a direct relation between the inner channels of the sun and moon, and the sun and moon in the sky. Both are caused by the same karmic seeds within us. We can picture the outside sun and moon as a reflection then of the inner channels of the sun and moon. Our own bodies—the structure of our blood vessels, nervous system, and skeleton—form around the inner channels as we grow in the womb. These channels themselves start spreading at the area of the navel chakra; our bones and nerves and veins accrete upon these channels like ice forming in layers around a twig of wood, taking on all its contours. The outer world too then forms around these same layers, so that the very sun and moon provide a map that we can use to understand our inner structure. If you live in New York, for example, then it’s no exaggeration to say that the West-Side Highway, the FDR Drive to the east, and Fifth Avenue running down the center of town are actually a direct reflection of your own inner body.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone —The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Seven: Everything from Understanding 1) Explain the idea of working at a crucial point (ne du nunpa in the Tibetan), in order to turn a chakra from a chokepoint into a center of radiance and high spiritual realizations. Include the analogy of a tree. The chakras can be either chokepoints or the release points of extraordinary spiritual power, if we can only release the stranglehold of the two side channels. One way to do this is to “work at a crucial point” by concentrating our attention and our understanding of how things work at a particular chakra, also working from the outside with the yoga asanas and sending breath into the point. It is important to emphasize that if this is done incorrectly it can actually have the opposite effect, of tying up the knot tighter. We must utilize a deep understanding of where things come from: which means that we would automatically then be using the Four Infinite Thoughts of kindness and the rest, since taking care of others is the source of all good seeds and the things they create. The example given in scripture is that we can chop away at a large tree trunk for days or even weeks before making any noticeable progress, simply exhausting ourselves. This is like doing yoga asanas for example over a long period of time without using love and wisdom from the inside. If we do focus though our combined effort and compassion on a chakra, it’s like a person who has an intimate knowledge of the root system of a tree. They can simply drive a wedge into a carefully determined point into the roots of the tree, and when they return in a few days the tree will have died and fall-

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en down on its own: no need for frantic, ineffective efforts. This wedge is our combined effort of stillness, wisdom, and also compassion.

NOTES:

2) Use the analogy of a balloon animal to explain how we work at the crucial point of a chakra. Take this opportunity to give the Sanskrit word for the inner knots or chokepoints, along with related English words. Conclude by giving the Sanskrit names for the three primary knots, and their locations. The inner body can be pictured as containing a fixed amount of prana, or inner wind. Think of it like a balloon animal from the circus: squeeze on the tummy, and the legs get fatter. Squeeze on the legs, the tummy gets fatter. When we think a negative thought, then prana is forced into one of the side channels, and they expand. When we think a positive thought, prana flows into the central channel, and it expands. When we do think a positive thought and prana flows into the central channel from the side channels, this automatically lessens the pressure of the knots created where the side channels wrap around the central channel. This sets in motion a positive, upward spiral where more and more prana and thought can flow out of the negative side channels and into the central channel. The knots themselves are called granthi in Sanskrit. This comes from the root granth, meaning to tie. Related English words are girth, girdle, and garden (an enclosed place). The three knots traditionally recognized by the yoga scriptures are the vishnu, brahma, and rudra knots. These are roughly related respectively to the area of the heart (anahata) chakra; the perineal (muladhara) chakra; and the chakra between the eyebrows (ajna).

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The central channel is sometimes also called the path of emptiness, a term which emphasizes how we can perceive ultimate reality when the winds flow freely within the central channel. The Sanskrit word for this is shunyapadavi. Shunya of course means empty, and comes from the root shu, meaning to swell. Related English words are cave, cumulus, and church. Padavi, meaning path, comes from the pad, meaning to go. The word pada, or foot, also derives from this root, and is found in the English words pedal, pedestrian, and centipede (a hundred feet or legs). The Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says that, when the winds enter the central channel fully, then “the two-sided support will come to a state of death” (III.11-12). This is a reference to the eventual collapse of the negative channels of the sun and moon.

4) Describe briefly the “radiance at the tip of the head”; the two types of power that it can confer; and what event it is that triggers these powers. Give the Sanskrit name for this radiant substance, along with related English words. At the tip of the head is a concentration of what is known as the “white element,” a concentration of male energy which is related to but not the same as the semen. When kundalini or inner fire awakens at the lower end of the central channel, this causes the white element at the tip of the head to begin to melt down through the central channel, which confers bliss, knowledge, and powers. The powers are both worldly ones, such as the ability to fly or to walk through walls, and ultimately the higher powers of an perfected being who can serve all living creatures at the same time. The name for the white element in Sanskrit is shukla dhatu. Shukla means white, and comes from the root shuch, meaning to gleam. Related English words are shine, shimmer, and scintillate.

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Dhatu comes from the root dha, meaning to set down. Related English words are deed (something set down in writing); doom (one’s fate set down); and fact (an established thing).

NOTES: 5) Master Patanjali makes the statement that “all of them come from total

understanding.” What does “all of them” refer to, and how do they come from total understanding? Give the word here in Sanskrit for “total understanding,” along with related English words. “All of them” here refers to all the spiritual powers mentioned here in the third chapter, both those which are more worldly oriented (such as flying in the sky, walking on water) and those which are ultimate—the powers of an angel. Total understanding here is the direct perception of ultimate reality, which has been facilitated by what was mentioned in the immediately preceding verse: the descent of the white substance down through the central channel, triggered by inner fire or kundalini. The Sanskrit word for “total understanding” here is pratibha. This is made up of two parts, prati and bha. Prati can mean either individual or initial, in the sense of coming first. Related English words are proud (coming first) and prow (the leading part of the boat). Bha means to shine with light and comes from the root bha, meaning to shine. Related English words are beacon, photo, and light beam. Together, the two parts as pratibha can refer to the first light, or dawn. As such they take on the meaning of the dawning of wisdom, or understanding.

6) In the verses at this point in the third chapter, Master Patanjali uses a word for the powers or spiritual attainments which is also found in the original name of a famous religious figure in Indian history. Explain. The word that Master Patanjali uses here for spiritual powers or attainments is siddha. This word is found in the original name of Gautama: Prince Siddhartha.

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Siddhartha. The word siddhartha means the one who achieved (siddha) the goal (artha). The word siddha comes from the root sidh, which means to succeed (to seek and find). Related English words, through an old Indo-European root sihg, are seek, sage (a seeker of knowledge), ransack (to seek messily), and forsake (to give up seeking).

7) Why would it be true that, if we turn the combined effort upon the chakra at the heart, we can “know the mind”? Also give the Sanskrit word used for the heart chakra here, along with related English words. Then do the same for the different Sanskrit word which is often used to refer to the heart chakra. In India and Tibet, the mind is traditionally considered to be located at the heart. This is because the primordial consciousness, called mishikpay tikle or the indestructible drop, is located at the heart chakra. Within this tiny spot of consciousness, smaller than the tip of a needle, lie all the billions of karmic seeds which have been planted by our actions but have not yet ripened: the very core of not only our mind but also of our body, our entire being, our entire world. The word used for “heart chakra” here is simply the most common Sanskrit word for “heart”: hirdaya, which comes from an old Indo-European root for “heart,” kerd. The related Sanskrit root is hrad, which means to make a sound. Related English words are heart, cardiac, creed (heart belief), and courage. Another common term in the yoga classics for the heart chakra is anahata chakra Anaht, which means the chakra (of the beating heart) which was never struck (like a bell or drum) to make it beat. Here an is the negative prefix, which is found in English as ne, and appears in negative, neither, and neglect. The next letter a Aa is a prefix which means upon, as in beat upon. The final piece, hata, comes from the root han, meaning to strike. Related words are ahinsa, gun, and hit.

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8) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely? When the heart chakra opens completely, we have an experience of ultimate love, or bodhichitta, which literally means “the mind of total purity but refers to the true desire to become an angel who can stand on a billion worlds and help all living beings. This again is a kind of “mind” that we can know if we turn our combined effort upon the heart chakra.

NOTES:

This experience occurs only for a few minutes the first time that it happens. It feels as though a clear-colored, crystal light is shooting forth from the chest, and touching every living being. At the same moment we see, directly, the face of every living being in the universe, and we see that we will be the one to help them reach ultimate happiness.

9) Is it easier to overcome the misunderstanding of “my world” that runs through the sun channel, or the misunderstanding of “me” that runs through the moon channel? In general, it is more difficult to examine the nature of a subtle object such as the idea of “me,” or the mind, than it is to examine a concrete outside object such as a pen. As such we can get to the emptiness of “me” by examining the emptiness of an outside object first: working at the sun channel to get to the moon channel.

10) Explain the example of the pen, which allows us to understand where “me” comes from through understanding where an object outside of me comes from. Be sure to cover, clearly, how understanding the pen allows us to understand exactly the type of being we ourselves are. If someone holds up a pen and asks us what it is, our automatic tendency is to say, “It’s a pen.” But if they hold the same object out to a puppy, the puppy grabs it in their mouth and chew on it: for the puppy, this object is a chew toy.

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Neither the person nor the puppy is more “right” than the other about what the object is; it is nor more “really” a pen than it is “really” a chew toy. How we see the object is a matter of perception; and so the “pen” and “pen-ness” are not coming from the object’s side, but rather from our side. It’s important to note that, even though the pen is thus obviously coming from our own side, it’s not the case that we can make it anything we want just by wishing it. Apparently we are being forced to see this object as a pen. It is seeds in our mind ripening, from when we previously gave someone else a pen, that make us see the object as a pen. From this understanding of an object outside of ourselves we can jump to an understanding of ourselves: what makes the dog a dog is simply the fact that it sees a chew toy; what makes me a human is the fact that I see a pen.

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The Yoga Studies Institute NOTES: Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Eight: The Rainbow in a Prison 1) What does the expression “rainbow in a prison” mean? We dearly love our bodies of flesh and blood, but imagine how they would seem to a person whose body had already changed to light. Sort of a slimy prison. A dangerous place to be stuck in. Incidentally, you maintain the general outer form of a human being when your body does change. Other people (remember the pen and the dog) might even see you the same as before. You and others like you, though, see you as the most exquisite being you can imagine right now, magnified a thousand times over. And so sometimes the body of light is called the “rainbow” body, because from a distance a rainbow looks like solid stuff, but up close you can pass your hand through it: no more guts and blood. Since a dog in the end is only the seeds to see things as a dog, a person again who really understands seeds could take on various outer forms, and appear to be born as various different people, if this would help us. They know it’s easier for us, on a day-to-day level, to relate to someone fairly much like ourselves. And so at the beginning they come to us that way.

2) How does the inner prana in general become a specific one of the five primary winds? When the inner winds race to a specific part of the body and gather there, even

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momentarily, to perform a necessary bodily function, we identify them as one of the five primary winds. 3) Give the Sanskrit name for “inner wind” in the sense of the five primary winds, along with its root and some related English words. The Sanskrit name for “inner wind” is vayu vayu. This comes from a root va, which means to blow. We see this root in the word nirvana, which means to blow out the fire of one’s negative emotions, forever. Other related words are wind, weather, vent, and wing.

4) Describe the function of the “pervasive” wind. Then give the Sanskrit word for it, and some related English words. The “pervasive” wind covers the entire body, governing the flow of all other winds to whatever place they are needed. The Sanskrit name for this wind is vyana Vyan. This word has two parts, vi and ana. Vi here means out, or throughout. Ana means breathing, and comes from the root an, meaning to breathe. Related English words are animated, anime, and animal.

5) Describe the function of the “life” wind, clarifying some confusion that might come up about its Sanskrit name. List finally some related English words. The “life” wind maintains life itself and also the passage of breath. Its name in Sanskrit is the prana wind, and so it can be confused with the general prana that moves throughout all the channels of the body. This confusion is magnified because of the multiple senses of “wind” in both Sanskrit and Tibetan: as breath; as prana; as the outer wind; as one of the doshas or humors of the body; as one of the five primary winds; or as a disorder of one of this wind. The Sanskrit word prana has two parts, pra and ana. The prefix pra à means before or great, and is found in the English proud and prow. Ana has a basic meaning of life and comes from the root an, meaning to breathe. Related English words are animated, anime, and animal.

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6) Describe the function of the “downward-clearing” wind; give its Sanskrit name; band some related English words.

NOTES:

The “downward-clearing” wind assures the elimination of feces and urine. Its name in Sanskrit is apana. This word is composed of two parts, apa and ana. The prefix apa Ap here means down or off; it is found in the English words after, off, ebb, and post (as in post-war and so on). Ana again has a basic meaning of life and comes from the root an, meaning to breathe. Related English words are animated, anime, and animal.

7) Give the two functions of the “upward-running” wind, then its Sanskrit name and related English words. The “upward-running” wind here relates to eating and speaking, also assisting the upward movement of any other wind. The Sanskrit name for this wind is udana. The ud here is the prefix ut, meaning up, and found in the English words up, above, and hypo. The ana part of this word is the same as before.

8) Describe the short-term and the ultimate results we attain when we use our knowledge of seeds to gain mastery over the upward-running wind. When with knowledge of seeds we gain mastery over the upward-running wind, we can move quickly—even over obstacles like lakes or thick brush—if someone needs help. In our final evolution, we pass through planets and galaxies at the speed of thought—the speed of a seed ripening.

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9) Describe the meaning of the name of the wind that “resides together,” as well as its two functions. Include the Sanskrit name of the wind, and related English words. This final primary wind “resides together” with both digestive fire and mystic fire near the navel. On the first level, it distills nutrients from food and distributes them throughout the body. On the second level, it triggers a downward flow of the radiant nectar at the tip of the head, engendering knowledge, bliss, and our angelic transformation. The Sanskrit name for this wind is samana sman. Sama means together or equal here, and is found in the English words same, simple, and similar. Ana as before means to breathe, run, or flow.

10) Explain the role that two of the five primary winds play in the idea of hatha yoga. The classical yoga texts sometimes relate the uniting of the energies of the upward-running and downward-clearing winds to the union of the sun and moon channels (ha and tha) as they dissolve into the central channel. This union is facilitated by both yoga asanas and locks which aid in the reversal of these two energies, so that they flow towards each other rather than away from each other. Examples would be in the inverted poses, or with the diaphragm lock. 11) Explain the “three skies,” clarifying why the last one might enable us to hear sounds even light-years away, or to fly even to other worlds. The word here for “space” had three meaning in ancient times. One was simply sky, space, the distance between things. The second meaning was place itself: that unchanging thing which objects enter, stay in, and then exit. The third was space in the sense of the void that’s left when you find out that something you thought was there never was. The feeling you get when you

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reach into your pocket after a meal at an expensive restaurant, and realize you’re left your wallet at home.

NOTES:

We get the same feeling of absence when we realize that everything around us is not coming at us, but from us. Seeing how this space allows us to hear, seeing how this space allows our body to be there, allows us again to adjust the “switches” on both these objects. Unheard switched to heard, heavy switched to light. Again we use the resulting powers first to help a limited number of people. As we grow, the number becomes infinite. All the powers evolve this way—from mundane, to helpful, to perfected. In the end the mind flies free through the sky of what was never there anyway.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Nine: The Four Bodies 1) When we do finally succeed in bringing the inner winds to stay and dissolve in the central channel, we become the angel of a billion worlds. This angel has four forms, or bodies; name them in English and in Sanskrit, and describe briefly. (a) The Reality Body (Svabhava Kaya) In a way, we already posses the first part of an Angel, and we always have. It is the simple fact that we are not what we are: you are not the person they give that word, your name. Rather, the name—the seed picture—came first, and then made you you. Since you are not you any other way, you are available to become something else—an Angel. And you always have been. This availability is your first body. It is sometimes described as the emptiness of the other three bodies.

(b) The Knowledge Body (Jnyana Dharma Kaya) When you do become an Angel, you possess omniscience: a direct perception of all events and all places—past, present, and future. This should not be confused though with omnipotence, which is the power to do all things. Not even perfected beings can act outside of the rule that everyone makes their own world, by how they treat other people. This “body” is essentially then your perfected state of mind.

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(c) The Paradise Body (Sambhoga Kaya) This is your “home” body, the central body in paradise in which you reside. A perfected physical form.

NOTES:

(d) The Emanation Body (Nirmana Kaya) These are the countless physical forms that we send out to help others, on countless planets, the millisecond after our total purity.

2) What is one logical possibility that we can deduce from the fact that we ourselves will one day gain the ability to send out countless clones of ourselves to help other people? If it’s the case that we ourselves will one day gain the ability to send out countless clones of ourselves, in different forms to help countless other beings, then it’s logically possible that every person we have ever met—every person around us at any given moment—is the emanation of one or more perfected Angels.

3) What is it that allows us to change the physical elements of our body into those of an perfected Angel? When we grasp that the way we look—our physical appearance—is also empty or “available” in the same way as the first of the four bodies, this empowers us to begin the hard work of collecting enough seeds to change the actual physical elements of our body into those of the Angel.

4) Give a traditional list of the eight low-level powers which we can use to help others in a limited way, and which come from using the combined effort. There are different forms of this list of eight worldly powers. One of them goes like this:

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(a) The Sword allows you to travel anywhere. (b) The Pill enables you to become invisible or assume any outer form. (c) The Eye Ointment helps you see minute or very distant objects. (d) Swift Feet is the ability to travel at high speeds. (e) Taking Essence is the ability to live off nothing but tiny bits of sustenance. (f) Sky Walk is the ability to fly. (g) Disappearing is the capacity to remain invisible. (h) Underground is the power to pass through solid ground like a fish through water. 5) The eight worldly powers transform into divine powers once we ourselves reach a higher level of spiritual evolution. Name and describe briefly these eight divine powers. (a) The first of the eight divine powers is the “holy body.” This refers to the ability to emanate many bodies at once. (b) “Holy speech” is the ability to teach the Dharma to every living being in his or her native tongue, all at the same time. (c) “Holy mind” means perceiving knowable object there is, while simultaneously remaining in a state where nothing is conceived as coming from its own side. (d) The divine power of “performing miracles” refers to the ability to perform limitless miracles at will. (e) Being “ever-present” is the quality of reaching to all places and all times.

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(f) “Fulfilling all wishes” is the ability to bring about, in its entirety, whatever one might wish for.

NOTES:

(g) “Creating all things” is the power to show oneself, with no more effort than simply wishing it, as a whole variety of worlds and the beings who walk the surface of these worlds. (h) “Possessing high qualities” means to possess all the high qualities related to the ten powers of an perfected being.

6) Master Patanjali says that we “will master the main thing, the messenger of the mind.” Why does he call the mind “the main thing”? With this reference, the Master is again summarizing the only way that we could reach the four bodies of an Angel. In the end, the mind underlies all things—projecting everything we are aware of, even ourselves. At the end, the mind then fulfills its true capacity, of seeing directly every one of these objects—past, present, or future. In one final mental twist, we need to understand that even our understanding of how all this works is itself a projection: a mental picture presented to our mind when extraordinarily rare and powerful seeds break open.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Class Ten 1) Master Patanjali says that “there will come a time when they invite you to take your place with them.” Who is the “they” that he is speaking of? Why is there a mention of some kind of danger at this point? “They” in this case refers to people who have already in the past reached a state of total purity. As our powers grow, and we evolve, our own physical and emotional pain will of course begin to disappear. There’s a point at which we may get trapped, thinking to stop at that. But then these people show themselves to us, and invite us into the higher family, which acts only for the happiness of the entire family—of living kind.

2) Describe the idea of a “higher family,” also giving the two Sanskrit words for those who belong to this family. The minute we first begin to practice yoga and study about it, we attract the attention of some very important people: everyone who has studied the book in the last two thousand years, and understood it, and practiced it, and become the Angel themselves. Simply by thinking the ideas that we’ve studied so far in the Yoga Sutra, you become part of a certain family of people. People who are very concerned about the pain of the world. People who have the spark of high understanding somewhere within them. Who believe that, somehow, there must be a key to stopping death and unhappiness altogether.

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We’ve said that we have to understand understanding itself; that it too is coming from seeds. And the only seeds it can come from are planted by wanting to be the one who rescues all the rest of us.

NOTES: People who have joined this higher family are called, in Sanskrit, kuladuhitir. The first means son of noble family, and the second is daughter of noble family.

3) Briefly describe the last three milliseconds in our journey to become the angel of a billion worlds. Be sure to speak about the idea of “not discriminating,” also giving the Sanskrit word for “discriminating” here, along with some related English words. There are three crucial moments at the end, when we gain all four bodies. The first (1) is the last moment in which we are still not the Angel: we are in what is called “the wisdom of the final instant.” To get here we have seen the ultimate directly, on the Path of Seeing, briefly. And then we have worked our way up through seven levels, using what we saw, and discriminating—in the sense of staying aware that even now the way things look to us is not the way they really are. During three more levels we need no longer discriminate this way: we no longer have the seeds for things to even appear to us in the wrong way. This brings us to that final moment; we cross over; and in the next moment (2) we have this new knowledge—the power to know all things—born from the last three levels. For one split second, we sit in but one exquisite body, in paradise. And then, because of the prayer we have made for countless lifetimes—to serve others—we without a single thought (3) appear on all worlds, Angelic. The Sanskrit word for discriminating here is viveka. This comes from the two parts vi and veka. Vi means very much, or to split off. It’s seen in the English words bicycle and two. Veka comes from a root vic, which means to sift through something. Related English words are viscous and ooze.

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4) When we reach the final goal, we are finally able to perceive—at the same moment—both of the realities which together constitute the entire universe. Describe these two briefly, including the words that the Master uses for them in the final lines of the third chapter, giving the Sanskrit and related words as well. The two realities are deceptive reality and ultimate reality. The entire inner and outer world as we normally experience it is deceptive reality, because to the mind of a normal person these things appear to come from their own side, whereas in truth they are coming from our own minds. UItimate reality is the fact that nothing is happening in any other way; and when we can perceive this reality directly, even for a few moments, it has the effect of releasing us from suffering. Master Patanjali here uses two very common synonyms for these two realities: sarva svR, meaning all things and referring to deceptive reality; and sarvatha svRwa, or the way all things are, which refers to ultimate reality. Only an perfected being can perceive both of these realities at the same time, without them alternating. The word sarva comes from the root sru, meaning to flow. The idea is of the entire flow or the entirety: all of something. In Sanskrit we have the related words samsara (the flow of pain, the world of pain), and prasarita meaning spread apart in yoga asanas where the feet are spread wide apart. Related English words are stream, maelstrom, and rhythm. When we add the suffix ta to the end of this word, it indicates the way in which all things are. We see this ending in the English tion, as in exposition and explanation.

5) The final words of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra speak of the final goal of yoga: total purity. Give the Sanskrit word for “total purity” here, along with some related English words. Then speak about the role of “purity” in maintaining our existence within the final goal. The Sanskrit word for “total purity” is kaivalya. This comes from two words ka kand iva here means the thing, and iva means itself. Related English words for

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the first are who and what. Iva comes from the Sanskrit root i, meaning to go. Related English words are exit and itinerary.

NOTES:

The idea of “purity” here is that we have reached a point where our feelings of compassion, and our knowledge of reality, are planting pure seeds that sustain themselves into the next moment, at which their very existence again plants the seeds for them to be there in the following moment, on through eternity, total purity.

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The Yoga Studies Institute Course III: Third Cornerstone—The Chapter on Practice Answer Key, Final Examination 1) Say a little bit about the logic behind the order of the first five parts of the yogic path: how does each one set you up for the next? The different forms of self-control prevent us from creating karmic obstacles to our practice. Once we are clean of these obstacles, we can go ahead and create new and powerful good karma with the various commitments. If we have this good karma, then we’ll be able to succeed at our physical yoga exercises. These exercises increase our strength and flexibility, giving us the physical means of controlling the breath, as well as setting up the channels for the effects of breath practice. Once we have mastered these two gross, outer, and easily measurable physical practices, we are ready to begin the deeper, inside practices. To do this, we must first learn to withdraw the mind from the objects of the five physical senses, in order to concentrate the sixth sense of the mind.

2) Explain the vital role that the last the sixth and seventh of the eight limbs play in the direct perception of emptiness, or ultimate reality. Explain why it’s important to see emptiness directly. These two limbs together represent the ability to concentrate the mind absolutely, with no distraction. This ability is called shamatha, and is a necessary platform or stillness of mind from which we can then see emptiness directly; that is, we cannot reach this absolutely necessary point without mastery over mental stillness. Emptiness is such a powerful object that—once we see it directly—it quickly leads us to nirvana (the end of all negative thoughts) and to our final destiny of becoming an perfected Angel who can help all beings.

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3) Master Patanjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own. But is that true? Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning?

NOTES: Fire does have a nature of being hot and burning, but it’s not true that this na-

ture belongs to it. That is, the quality of being hot does not reside within a fire. Rather, we perceive this quality within a fire only because of our own mental seeds, which come from our own past karma. With different mental seeds it would be possible for us to experience fire as cool, and to be able to pick it up in our hands.

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English words, where the typical change of a Sanskrit s to an English c is observed, are cave (an empty space); cumulus (swelling clouds); and even church (which originally meant swollen with power). 5) It is often claimed by people who talk about the Yoga Sutra that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity. How does this relate to the two different kinds of “stopping,” or cessation? The claim that the goal of yoga is to stop all mental activity is a common misinterpretation of the opening lines which say, “Yoga is stopping how the mind turns.” Throughout the centuries, as people have practiced meditation, there are many who have mistaken the temporary pleasant sensation of stopping gross thoughts as a spiritual goal. This is the first kind of cessation, the unimportant one really. The second type of cessation is the important one: where we stop our misperception of things, in order to stop our negative thoughts and thus all the pain that we and others ever experience.

6) Having discussed what makes a state of meditation start or stop, Master Patanjali goes on to describe what makes things in general start or stop. He makes the surprising statement that all things within us and outside of us follow after one single quality: the fact that “their starting and their stopping cannot be pointed to.” Explain what this means with perceiving the word word right here on this page. Then explain how this helps us grasp how things are really coming from us. In order to read the word word, we must first read the letter w. Reading the word word happens so fast that we don’t really notice this fact, but if we think about it for a moment we know it must be true: our eye moves across the page from left to right, and “bumps into” the w before the other letters. In order to see the whole letter w though, we must by necessity see the first of the three lines that makes up this letter. To see this first line though, we must first see the top of it and the bottom of it. To see the top of it though, we must first see the top of the top and the bottom of the top, and so on—ad infinitum. We obviously don’t have time to do all this

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in the time it actually takes us to read the word word; and even if we did have the time, it’s obvious if we think about it that there must be a point where our eyes aren’t sensitive enough to see the two parts of a line that make up the smallest part of the line we can see. The simple fact is that we can’t be seeing things the way we always thought we did.

NOTES:

In actual fact, the way that we see the whole word word on this very page is only because our own mind is projecting it down on the page, gluing together indications of black and white into a comprehensible whole. And this is how we see every other single thing in our entire world: it is all coming from us, from seeds we planted when we took care of others, or ignored their needs.

7) Give the Sanskrit words that Master Patanjali uses here for terms and objects. Then speak a bit about the “mix-up” or confusion here: speak about whether terms or the objects to which they refer come first. The Sanskrit word for term or word here is shabda. This is related to the root vad, which means to speak. The noun vak, or voice, comes from this root, and from it come the English words voice, invoke, and epic. The word for object here is artha. This comes from the root ir , meaning to go or to send, in the sense of the object for which we go somewhere. Words derived from this root have the meaning of to go beyond, or to surpass. An example in Sanskrit would be the word arya which in modern times has taken on an inappropriate sense of racial superiority, but originally in spiritual terms referred to a person who had gone beyond normal people because they had seen emptiness directly. The English word aristocrat is related, with a similar sense. The mix-up or confusion here is that we mistake words for actual objects. In this sense, a “word” is not the sound or name that we use to represent an object, but rather the tiny mental picture or projection in our minds that we mistake for the actual object. We normally think that outside objects exist first, out there, and then later we give them a name. But in reality the name comes first (“In the beginning was

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the word”), the tiny mental image born of our karmic seeds. We then mistake this for an actual outside object.

8) Master Patanjali says that, by using the combined effort, we can reach a point where we gain the ability to see the final outcome of the deeds or karmas that we perform. Speak about the single most important element that we need to watch in order for the results of our actions to be predictable. Mention how the idea of “illusion” comes in here. And then finally give the Sanskrit word for the “final outcome” of a karma, along with related English words. The intention with which we commit a karma or deed is the single most important element in deciding how it will come out in the end. A deed done with a good intention will always bring good results, and a deed done with a negative intention will always bring negative results. There is an illusion that things are otherwise. Perhaps we have a mother-inlaw who doesn’t like us so much, and so we buy her a new shower mat to show our hope for friendship. That night she slips on the mat and hurts herself, and she becomes angry with us. Having someone be angry with us today though has nothing to do with the act of showing friendship to someone. This act can only bring us good results in the future. The anger came from some kind of anger that we showed to a person in the past. The Sanskrit word for the final outcome of a karma is aparanta. This word has three parts, a and para and anta. A is the Sanskrit negative and is found in the English words apathetic and apolitical. Para means other or something beyond. We see a form of it in the famous Sanskrit word paramita, which means gone to the other side, or perfection, as in the six perfections. In English it’s found in words perfect and paramount. The combination of a and para here can be read as having nothing beyond it, or final; although apara can also simply mean something that comes later on.

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Anta means the end, or here the end result of a karma or action. It is found in the English words end and antique.

NOTES:

9) A good part of the third chapter of the Yoga Sutra is devoted to both worldly and divine forms of power. Master Patanjali is sure to identify the true source of all these powers. Name this source, then list and briefly describe all of its different parts, along with the Sanskrit name for each of the parts. Master Patanjali says that “The powers are to be found in love and the rest.” He is referring here to the some of the highest karmic seeds that we can collect: the four infinite thoughts that were introduced in the first chapter. These are kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Infinite kindness (maitri in the Sanskrit) is the desire to bring all living beings happiness. Infinite compassion (karuna) is the desire that every other being be free of all forms of pain. Infinite joy (mudita) is the decision to bring all living beings to the highest forms of happiness: to the freedom from all negative thoughts (nirvana) and to the state of an perfected angel who can help all beings. Infinite equanimity (upeksha) is the decision to help everybody this way— not just our friends or family. The karma of thinking these thoughts is the source of all worldly and perfected power because of two factors. We are wishing for the highest of all things, and we are wishing them upon an infinite number of living beings. The karma can thus create an perfected paradise which never ends.

10) At a certain point in the body, the channels of the sun and moon join the central channel, like pieces of plumbing. This connecting point is compared to a famed place at Allahabad, India, and to a significant recent event. Explain why, then give the location of this juncture in the body, also reviewing the Sanskrit name for the point and related English words. The place in the body where the three principal channels meet is compared to the Triveni, a place at Allahabad, India, where the three sacred rivers of the Yamuna, Ganges, and Sarasvati are said to flow together. The Hatha Yoga

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Pradipika (III.51) says that the Yamuna River relates to the channel of the sun; the Ganges relates to the channel of the moon; and the Sarasvati, which is traditionally said to run underground, relates to the central channel. The goddess of the Yamuna River is by tradition said to be the daughter of the God of the Sun, Surya, and the twin sister of Yama, the Lord of Death. Bathing in the place where the three rivers convene is said to be a sacred act; to “bathe” in the event of the side channels collapsing into the central channel creates an Angel’s body of light. A major earthquake which occurred in Gujarat, India, on January 26, 2001, is thought to have raised the “missing” Sarasvati River. This could correctly be interpreted as a shifting of the central channel in every person who is interested in this event, because the same seeds create both the channels and the world around us. This is reflected in names of yoga practices, such as Uddiyana and Jalandhara Bandhas, where the name of a sacred place in the outer world is connected to a location within the body. The juncture of these three major pipes in the body is usually placed just below the navel chakra. It is through this point that the inner wind or prana moves out of the side channels and into the central channel. Here too is where the side channels will eventually melt down into the central. The Sanskrit word triveni has two parts, tri and veni. Tri means three, and is found in the Engish words three and tricycle. Veni means a braid of hair, from the more basic meaning of a coming or flowing together. Ultimately it derives from the Sanskrit root gam meaning to go, by way of an old Indo-European root gwa. From the gwa root comes wa and then ve, which appears in the English convention and venue (a place where people come together, as the three rivers flow together).

11) Explain what the word chakra literally means; mention some related English words; and then relate this name to the structure of the inner channels.

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The word chakra (cakra) literally means wheel. As our inner body first forms in the womb, the two side channels are already twisted around the central channel: we are already misunderstanding ourselves and our environment. Secondary channels break out from these chokepoints horizontally, spreading out like the spokes of a wheel. Looking down the central channel from the top of the head then, we see the shapes of wheels. The word chakra is an example of reduplication, or where a root is repeated to give the sense that its action is repeated or intensified. In this case the root is kir, meaning to do or create, and the original reduplication was something like kirkir, which evolved into chakra. The idea is that a wheel repeatedly performs its function, doing the same thing over and over again. Related English words are of course create, cereal (an important food which is grown), and crescent (a growing moon).

NOTES:

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The chakras can be either chokepoints or the release points of extraordinary spiritual power, if we can only release the stranglehold of the two side channels. One way to do this is to “work at a crucial point” by concentrating our attention and our understanding of how things work at a particular chakra, also working from the outside with the yoga asanas and sending breath into the point. It is important to emphasize that if this is done incorrectly it can actually have the opposite effect, of tying up the knot tighter. We must utilize a deep understanding of where things come from: which means that we would automatically then be using the Four Infinite Thoughts of kindness and the rest, since taking care of others is the source of all good seeds and the things they create. The example given in scripture is that we can chop away at a large tree trunk for days or even weeks before making any noticeable progress, simply exhausting ourselves. This is like doing yoga asanas for example over a long period of time without using love and wisdom from the inside. If we do focus though our combined effort and compassion on a chakra, it’s like a person who has an intimate knowledge of the root system of a tree. They can simply drive a wedge into a carefully determined point into the roots of the tree, and when they return in a few days the tree will have died and fallen down on its own: no need for frantic, ineffective efforts. This wedge is our combined effort of stillness, wisdom, and also compassion.

14) There is a name for the central channel which emphasizes how we can see ultimate reality when the inner winds flow freely through this channel. Give this name in English and in Sanskrit. Explain finally what the book called Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says will happen if the inner winds do flow through this channel. The central channel is sometimes also called the path of emptiness, a term which emphasizes how we can perceive ultimate reality when the winds flow freely within the central channel.

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The Sanskrit word for this is shunyapadavi. Shunya of course means empty, and comes from the root shu, meaning to swell. Related English words are cave, cumulus, and church.

NOTES: Padavi, meaning path, comes from the pad, meaning to go. The word pada, or foot, also derives from this root, and is found in the English words pedal, pedestrian, and centipede (a hundred feet or legs). The Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon (Hatha Yoga Pradipika) says that when the winds enter the central channel fully, then “the two-sided support will come to a state of death” (III.11-12). This is a reference to the eventual collapse of the negative channels of the sun and moon.

15) What happens when the heart chakra opens completely? When the heart chakra opens completely, we have an experience of ultimate love, or bodhichitta, which literally means “the mind of total purity but refers to the true desire to become an angel who can stand on a billion worlds and help all living beings. This again is a kind of “mind” that we can know if we turn our combined effort upon the heart chakra. This experience occurs only for a few minutes the first time that it happens. It feels as though a clear-colored, crystal light is shooting forth from the chest, and touching every living being. At the same moment we see, directly, the face of every living being in the universe, and we see that we will be the one to help them reach ultimate happiness.

16) Is it easier to overcome the misunderstanding of “my world” that runs through the sun channel, or the misunderstanding of “me” that runs through the moon channel? In general, it is more difficult to examine the nature of a subtle object such as the idea of “me,” or the mind, than it is to examine a concrete outside object such as a pen. As such we can get to the emptiness of “me” by examining the

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emptiness of an outside object first: working at the sun channel to get to the moon channel.

17) Describe the function of the “life” wind, clarifying some confusion that might come up about its Sanskrit name. List finally some related English words. The “life” wind maintains life itself and also the passage of breath. Its name in Sanskrit is the prana wind, and so it can be confused with the general prana that moves throughout all the channels of the body. This confusion is magnified because of the multiple senses of “wind” in both Sanskrit and Tibetan: as breath; as prana; as the outer wind; as one of the doshas or humors of the body; as one of the five primary winds; or as a disorder of one of this wind. The Sanskrit word prana has two parts, pra and ana. The prefix pra means before or great, and is found in the English proud and prow. Ana has a basic meaning of life and comes from the root an, meaning to breathe. Related English words are animated, anime, and animal.

18) Explain the role that two of the five primary winds play in the idea of hatha yoga. The classical yoga texts sometimes relate the uniting of the energies of the upward-running and downward-clearing winds to the union of the sun and moon channels (ha and tha) as they dissolve into the central channel. This union is facilitated by both yoga asanas and locks which aid in the reversal of these two energies, so that they flow towards each other rather than away from each other. Examples would be in the inverted poses, or with the diaphragm lock. 19) Explain the “three skies,” clarifying why the last one might enable us to hear sounds even light-years away, or to fly even to other worlds. The word here for “space” had three meaning in ancient times. One was simply sky, space, the distance between things.

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The second meaning was place itself: that unchanging thing which objects enter, stay in, and then exit.

NOTES:

The third was space in the sense of the void that’s left when you find out that something you thought was there never was. The feeling you get when you reach into your pocket after a meal at an expensive restaurant, and realize you’re left your wallet at home. We get the same feeling of absence when we realize that everything around us is not coming at us, but from us. Seeing how this space allows us to hear, seeing how this space allows our body to be there, allows us again to adjust the “switches” on both these objects. Unheard switched to heard, heavy switched to light. Again we use the resulting powers first to help a limited number of people. As we grow, the number becomes infinite. All the powers evolve this way—from mundane, to helpful, to perfected. In the end the mind flies free through the sky of what was never there anyway.

20) When we do finally succeed in bringing the inner winds to stay and dissolve in the central channel, we become the angel of a billion worlds. This angel has four forms, or bodies; name them in English and in Sanskrit, and describe briefly. (a) The Reality Body (Svabhava Kaya) In a way, we already posses the first part of an Angel, and we always have. It is the simple fact that we are not what we are: you are not the person they give that word, your name. Rather, the name—the seed picture—came first, and then made you you. Since you are not you any other way, you are available to become something else—an Angel. And you always have been. This availability is your first body. It is sometimes described as the emptiness of the other three bodies. ( b) The Knowledge Body (Jnyana Dharma Kaya)

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When you do become an Angel, you possess omniscience: a direct perception of all events and all places—past, present, and future. This should not be confused though with omnipotence, which is the power to do all things. Not even perfected beings can act outside of the rule that everyone makes their own world, by how they treat other people. This “body” is essentially then your perfected state of mind. (c) The Paradise Body (Sambhoga Kaya) This is your “home” body, the central body in paradise in which you reside. A perfected physical form.

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• Y O G A T H AT C H A N G E S Y O U R W O R L D , N O T J U S T Y O U R B O D Y •